Just Another Day
by ModernCowboy
Summary: What happened after the BPS? Well the kids grew up and got jobs... As mad scientists. To them fighting off an alien invasion while stopping a terrorist plot and battleing werewolves is just another day. Warning: Violence, guns, and some alcohol use
1. Chapter 1 Welcome to the Jungle

Just another Day chapter 1:Welcome to the Jungle

_**The Institute: 11: 45 am**_

There were six men seated in a mostly empty lunch room. They were all seated at two round tables next to each other. Each of them was slowly eating a sandwich and sipping on their choice of soft drink. All of them were wearing torn and tattered clothing.

At one table was Eddward Devlin, better known as Doctor D by now. He was explaining to his new trainee the finer points of working at the institute. His new apprentice named Todd was munching on a turkey sandwich taking the news of his new employers being mad scientists fairly well, especially being the incident that ended no more than fifteen minutes ago. Todd had scratches and bruises along the majority of his face with his lab coat and button up shirt underneath being shredded in many places. Edd wasn't looking much better as he reloaded his revolver and placed it back in his shoulder holster. Rolf was sitting across from them eating a foot long sub as he regarded the new employee of Genosan Industries. His own attire was badly destroyed and slightly singed.

At the other table were a Russian scientist, and eight year veteran of the company, Nicolai Isaacs. He had a slight grin spread over his face still excited after the adventure he had with the five other men. To his right and left were Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln respectively. Both of them were cyborgs and... I suppose it would be helpful to have context. Hopefully this clears some things up.

_**thirty minutes earlier...**_

Edd and his lab assistant Todd were currently hunkered down behind a metal table. Edd was reloading his .38 special revolver as he spoke quickly to Todd.

"Boy you're lucky. Most guys don't get a containment breach until their second or third day. You got to experience your first only a hour and a half in."

"LUCKY! How is this lucky? Here I am with a shotgun you threw at me behind some desk as we are being attacked by chupacabras or something!" Todd screamed at Doc D as he pumped his previously mentioned shotgun.

"Don't be ridiculous. The chupacabras escaped over a week ago and we still haven't found them. Besides I told you these are Rat-men."

"What difference does it make now!" Todd yelled at the older man as he fired at one of the Rat-men clawing his way out of a ventilation shaft.

"Trust me when you are backed up against a desk fighting off monsters there is a big difference. Chupacabras are WAY harder to kill and a whole lot faster too." Edd told the younger man as he closed the cylinder on his revolver and fired from behind cover.

Picking up a cell phone out of his pocket Doctor D pressed the contact for Rolf. He fired twice before the man answered on the third ring. He heard screaming, gunshots, and even laughing on the other line as the foreigner picked up.

"Rolf what's the situation on your side of the level?" Edd asked referring to the floor they were currently defending from a horde of Rat-men waiting for re-enforcements from Eddy's weapon's development level.

"Teddy's doing a pretty good job holding his own with the elephant gun, although he won't get off his moose. Nicolai is disturbingly well at using his scalpel. Abe is using an old English claymore sword and I have fifty rounds left for my MP5. How about you?" Rolf said while Edd heard him let lose a stream of fully automatic fire from the other room.

"Trainee's doing really well for a first time. We're both running low on ammo but I could grab a pipe or something if I had to. Eddy said backup is about four minutes away. Over and out." And with that Edd ended the call and started to place more bullets into his revolver when he heard a familiar buzz.

Edd peeked over his metal barrier and saw what he knew was there. Sliding along the floor was a large six foot tall yellow-green snail with arms. Coming out from his eye stalks were streams of yellow electricity, shocking and incapacitating any Rat-men that came near him. Turning he saw Edd peaking over the table and waved.

"Greg!" Edd addressed the snail getting up from behind his cover with a large smile.

That may have only confused you more. Maybe we should go further, start from the beginning.

_**The Institute: 8:15am**_

Edd drove into his parking spot in his futuristic looking sports car. It was a custom built ED-Mark D x series sports vehicle. It had been built by Kevin on level 17. Getting out of his car Mr. Devlin walked to the stairs at the far right of the parking garage. Ascending the concrete steps he made his way onto the platform leading to work. Taking out his wallet he took out his company ID and scanned it through the door at the top of the stairs and walked on the highly polished linoleum floor.

He was standing on an elevated platform where a monorail train would pass through. In his right hand was his suitcase and in his left was a samurai sword. He was going to put the sword on the wall in his office when he got to the main building of Genosan Industries corporate offices in the US, which was nicknamed 'the institute' by many working there. Right on schedule at 8:20 the monorail came and he was whisked away to his workplace

The monorail stopped and the passengers disembarked in front of the elevated entrance of the building. When looking at it, it seemed to be your average office building at only five stories high. What was unseen by outside onlookers was the two-hundred and eighty levels below the first five levels located underground. The building was in total two-hundred and eighty-five stories. Each story had a designated level going from top to bottom.

Edd entered the building and was greeted by a sentient gorilla. No really, he walked in and had a gorilla sitting behind a desk in the front lobby, with an IQ of 125 say in clear English, "How are you today Doc D?"

Completely unfazed, as he was the one who created the gorilla and the brain and vocal implants that allowed speech, The good doctor replied, "Fine. The katana finally came in from E-bay. By the way any updates on why we haven't heard from level 192 or level 65 in a week or so?"

"Good job getting the sword. And yes we have found out what happed to those two levels. They're dead. Level 65 was killed by exploding acid tomatoes and level 192 was overrun by squirrel-odillos. Cleanup will take about five days in both, pretty messy." The gorilla guard answered matter-o-factly.

"That's too bad. Have the boys on level 200 clone them from the DNA samples. Hopefully they remembered to give new samples recently, we don't want clones that are six months younger than they should be." With that request Edd headed over to a transport tube and punched in the number for his floor.

As the green button for level 178 lit up the doors opened and he stepped into a circular shaft about six feet wide. He was standing on a circular floor plate with a large X across the floor. The doors once again closed and he saw a panel light up in front of him. It had two buttons a red and a green. He pressed the green button and heard a female computerized voice say have a nice trip as the floor plate opened into four sections along the X.

Instantly he was falling through the shaft the walls passing by in a blur. His trip didn't last very long as he soon felt the air rush up against him. Soon enough his decent came to a halt as the wind rushing from large fans below him started blowing him upward. Before he was sent flying upward another floor panel closed about three inches below his feet allowing him to land softly as the door reopened.

Level 178 was one of the genetics labs. The level was divided into 2 main area types: labs and offices. Leading straight from the transport tube was a hallway with four doors. the two right doors led to the labs where the living subjects and the lab where the components for the experiments were kept. The door at the end of the hallway lead to another hallway where the offices were. The door on the left was where the experiments were performed.

Edd walked to the door at the end and through it into the hallway beyond. He walked past the doors of the other offices passing Rolf's, Nicolai's, and Eric's. Eric was currently in the process of being cloned after a bad incident with a lama-beetle hybrid. It didn't survive the first five minutes of being let out of the tube but neither did Eric. Finally he reached the last door reading Devlin, and proceeded to walk through. He laid his briefcase on his desk and went over to the rack behind his chair and placed his new sword in the cradle.

The doctor then went over to his coat rack and took off his suit jacket. He put the navy blue garment on a hook and took a white lab coat with his name embroidered on his front pocket and threw it over his chair. He walked back to his desk and opened his black briefcase. He lifted the lid and pulled out a clipboard, some files, and a holstered revolver. Strapping his gun into a shoulder holster and putting a twenty-five round box of ammo in his pocket he put on the lab coat. Closing his briefcase and picking up his paperwork he went out of his office and into the live test subject lab.

He looked over each experiment on his schedule and observed their changes. There wasn't much to say. The new mushroom species they grew had turned out to be carnivorous after all. The bat that they were trying to turn luminescent glowing blue had turned luminescent glowing green. He then shot the bat and made a note to start over. Now before you go judging he shot the bat, not because it glowed the wrong color, but because it had escaped it's cage and was trying to eat the guinea pig-snake hybrids. Other than that he had nothing out of the ordinary to report. Nothing new anyway.

They still hadn't accounted for the chupacabra that escaped not too long ago. The acid spitting tree spider was still very aggressive. For clarification it wasn't a spider that lived on trees but a spider that had been genetically crossed with an oak tree. As he was musing about the various experiments, he remembered that soon enough the new potential employee, and possible apprentice, would be coming into the labs for his introductory tour of where he would be working.

"Oh boy he is in for a wild trip today. I wish I could see the look on his face when he meets Kyle." Edd said referring to the gorilla security guard.

As Edd placed the lab reports on a table in the corner of the room he heard an electronic ringing. It signaled he was being paged on the Video phones along the wall of each room. He walked over to the screen along the right side of the wall and pressed accept. The screen flickered to life showing a large gray room about the size of a gymnasium. In the background he could see robots styled after monkeys firing guns at targets. They were obviously in the development process as they started to get bored with shooting the red bull's eyes and started shooting each other instead. Several humans dressed in combat armor were in the process of disabling the robots with EMP guns before they completely destroyed each other. In the immediate foreground Edd could see his old childhood friend Eddy although he was far from a child now.

All of the cul-de-sac kids had grown up over the years. At first they had graduated high school and went on to go to college or start working. Ed had become an author and animator of a very popular comic series. Edd had gone to a very prestigious college for medicine. Eddy went on to wall street to try and play the stock market ending up thousands in debt. Sarah, Nazz, and Jimmy had gone over to working at a cafe. Rolf and Jonny had gone on to work at Rolf's family farm. Kevin had gone on to become an automotive mechanic in Chicago. The three Kanker sisters had become designers at a hardware company. None of them were very satisfied with life and were becoming depressed at the idea that their life would be the same monotonous thing until they died. Then something changed.

It started with Edd, he had received a phone call offering him a job at a pharmaceutical company. Just to be courteous he had gone over to see what they were about. He was then greeted by Peter, the founder of Genosan Industries. The founder was nothing more than an android with a human brain and a face resembling a gas mask. After accepting that he had lost his mind and gone crazy he decided to go on the tour with the robot. He was then informed that the founder was from the future and had come back in time to start up the company and enroll the employees. Edd was supposed to be one of the three original employees. Upon hearing that he got Ed and Eddy to come join him and started out working in the lab.

Eventually they convinced Kevin, Rolf, and Jonny to come work at the institute. May and Nazz worked at the zoo. The zoo was an underground enclosure for the various experiments deemed successful that was reached by monorail. Marie worked in the sea lab, a branch of the company located in the middle of the ocean. Specifically it was located a mile below the ocean and was where the more aquatic experiments took place. Lastly Lee, Sarah, and Jimmy worked at the Ice cube. It was a base of operations and containment in Antarctica that held the most dangerous of the experiments. With a simple interview they had become the prestigious elite of classified. Now nine years later they were the most senior members of the company.

Eddy was looking pretty good. He was unfazed by the commotion going on behind him. Honestly after almost a decade of insanity you get pretty used to it.

Without a second glance behind him he said, "Peter told me to inform you that your study just got on the monorail and will be reaching you soon. Abe and Teddy had wanted to greet him so Rolf and Nicolai are going fetch them from the gladiator ring and will bring them to you. FYI Teddy just cloned a moose and gave it the ability to shoot silk web from its nostrils so he will probably bring it to show off to the new guy."

"Great, not only will the newbie have to see the animals in my lab he will see two dead presidents and a spider moose," Edd snorted sarcastically.

"I hope he doesn't go crazy like the last two trainees, " Eddy noted before turning off the video phone and getting back to gaining control of the malfunctioning monkey-bots.

Edd just chuckled and went over to the elevator on the opposite side of the floor to meet the group of mixed personalities coming to meet the new guy. He heard a slight scuffling above his head but thought nothing of it. It wasn't uncommon for a cockroach to ingest an experimental formula and grow to seven or eight inches and shoot fire. In fact he thought of calling the exterminators to come get it when he thought better. He figured they were pretty busy as is with the giant flea infestation on level 57. They were the size of a Labrador and very carnivorous.

He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard a ding and saw the doors slide open. Inside were four people and a moose with a spider web on its nose. Rolf had a scraggly beard and Edd guessed that he hadn't left his ecology lab in over a week. It wasn't because he had insane hours, in fact technically they didn't even have to go to work. They just did it because it was fun. Standing next to him was Nicolai Isaacs a brilliant Russian scientist who was well versed in almost every subject. Behind them were two of the most famous US presidents.

The one closest to the entrance of the elevator was Abraham Lincoln. He had a cybernetic lower torso below his ribcage, although you couldn't tell because he was wearing pants. His left eye was replaced with an artificial green robot eye that was connected to an arm from a pair of glasses that ran behind his left ear with a wire trailing into a small battery pack located in his robotic torso. Strapped on his side was a claymore sword from the gladiator arena.

The last person in the elevator was Theodore Roosevelt sitting atop his trusty steed with an elephant gun slung across his back. He looked normal from a look over but if you worked at the institute you knew that wasn't the case. Everything besides his right leg, right arm below the elbow, kidneys, liver, and brain was cybernetic. Both he and Lincoln had been cloned several years ago. Throughout that time they had sustained severe damage and had to be continually rebuilt. They were just lucky they had the best android technician in the world in level 285. In fact, the German was mostly artificial himself.

"I trust you had an easy time getting here," Edd told the men pleasantly.

"Not so much Doctor D. Gingerbread was scared of the elevator." Lincoln replied tiredly.

"Gingerbread?" Edd questioned.

"That's the name of my moose good boy," Theodore said giving the moose a pat.

Edd glanced at gingerbread. He had to say that due to the coloration of the moose's fur gingerbread did seem to fit. The moose then sneezed making a web bubble stick to the wall of the elevator. It appeared to have a runny nose. Teddy then cut the web with a boot knife and made the moose follow the other inhabitants of the elevator into the hall. Once there they made their way over to the door to the transport tube and waited to greet the young man. In no time at all they heard a low screech that turned into a full blown scream and stopped in front of them.

The transport tube's door opened showing quite a scene. Still falling were papers that the young man had been carrying before the floor of the tube opened up. Sitting on the floor leaning against the wall was Todd. His legs were splayed open and his arms were limp at his sides. He was breathing heavily and looked as though he thought he was going to die. Then his head turned and he saw the men standing before him.

Getting up he walked over to Rolf and said, "Which one of you is taking me to my grandpa?"

"Rolf begs your pardon?" Rolf asked the man confused.

"I obviously just fell to my death and am in heaven. Look there is Lincoln and Roosevelt. Why is ghost Lincoln part robot?" Todd told the men thinking himself obviously correct.

"Oh no they are clones and you were supposed to fall. That rush of air saved you from death. By the way you're not hallucinating and yes the gorilla was real. You are in for quite a ride," Edd pleasantly told Todd as he lead him over to the labs.

_**Later...**_

"So let me get this straight. You are all mad scientist performing unethical experiments for no reason. And you get paid millions per year?" Todd scrutinized.

"That is the basic gist of it," Nicolai replied plainly.

"I know it is a lot to take in but it doesn't take long to get used to it. After about two months you are adjusted to the system. For some it is a little longer, a little less. It took me a month, For Rolf it was three, Nicolai was Russian so he was rearing to go with no adjustment period." Edd explained plainly.

With that the six of them went over to the offices. They passed each office and Rolf explained who each one belonged to and what they did.

"This is my office, although you won't see me in it often. I am usually located one level above in my ecology lab. That is Eric's office. He died and is currently being cloned. You see he wasn't sure if he wanted the job or not and gave instructions that if he were to die he would be cloned and would then quit. If you can handle it you will then take his office and his position. You will be the lab assistant to Doctor Devlin, the man who greeted you. And here we are The Doc's office," Rolf said as they reached the door.

The six men then went inside the office, sans the moose. Todd took a seat as he was offered, then declined a drink. Edd then sat down at his desk and opened the briefcase. From inside he pulled out a file on the man in front of him. It was quite hefty. He had graduated from MIT with honors and had worked with a large pharmaceutical company for three years before he was offered this position. He had little experience in the type of experiments performed at the institute but Edd saw potential.

"Well you seem to be very experienced in conventional science... But can you handle working here where we do anything but conventional science?"

"I don't know... Possibly... If given time I think I could adjust," answered the young man sitting nervously in front of Edd.

"That is what I like honesty. I is very good you didn't blindly answer yes. Something is wrong with you if you can just immediately adjust to this environment without being crazy, or Russian. Let's start you with us for now and we can see where you go," Edd said admirably to his new lab assistant.

"Do you have any questions you need answe..."Edd started but was cut off by a high pitched screech coming from the hallway.

"Oh great another escaped experiment. Honestly every time I try to have a serious conversation," Edd spat angrily.

Edd then walked over to a cabinet on the back wall of his office. Taking a key from his pocket Edd unlocked the cabinet and opened the door. He then pulled out a 12 gauge shotgun and a box of shells putting the shells in the pocket of his lab coat. Edd threw an MP5 submachine gun at Rolf who caught it in the air. Edd took out three extra mags for the MP5 and handed them to Rolf on his way out of the door. Edd then pumped a round into the chamber of his shotgun and walked over to the lab where he performed experiments where the sound had come from.

He opened the door and saw two large creatures coming from the torn open air vent in the ceiling. They were large hairy humanoid creatures. They had the head and tail of a rat. Their bodies were a disproportionate cross between Rat and men. All of them had beady black eyes and sharp claw-like teeth and, of course, sharp claw-like claws. Their fur was a pure dark gray.

Edd simply pointed his shotgun and created large, gory wounds in each rat-man. They both flew onto the floor dead oozing a dark red blood. Going over to inspect the monsters he checked to make sure that they were dead.

"Get ready kid these things never come alone. They are always in big groups, a dozen or more," Edd told Todd.

Edd noticed that Teddy had the elephant gun at the ready and had somehow gotten on his moose without his noticing. Lincoln had drawn his broadsword and was standing ready for battle. Nicolai walked over the operation table and grabbed a scalpel, prepared to kill. Todd looked very uneasy as they stood waiting for the attack. It was quiet. They were getting smarter over time. They had learned from their elder, Charlie. He was the second thing Edd had ever created. He was different from the other rat-men as he had black fur with pure silver stripes down each side of his back. He had escaped early on and was hiding somewhere in the building.

Suddenly Edd was brought out of his thoughts as a crash was heard in the other lab. Without a word the six men started running out of the doorway with Gingerbread and Roosevelt in the lead. Before Edd could run out of the door he hear a plop and a scurrying. Edd turned just in time to see a large rat like creature jump at him, tackling him to the ground.

The shotgun was knocked to the side and the rat attacked him. His face was clawed and his coat torn to shreds in less than a second. Reaching in his coat he brought out his handgun and fired two quick shots into the beast's chest. rolling it off him he looked up to see Todd standing over him with an outstretched hand. Grabbing it, Edd got up and heard screaming and gunshots. He saw through the open door that The other four men were across the floor in the other lab battling the creatures.

Edd ran over to his shotgun that had skidded across the floor and picked it up aiming at the air vent that was where the attack started. He saw a rat-man jump down and was in the process of getting ready to charge when Edd blasted away half of its head. Suddenly he heard a crash to his right and saw another air vent being broken open by a rat-man. He was half way out of the vent when Edd shot him dead.

Edd opened the box of shells in his pocket and replaced the ammunition he used in his shotgun making sure it was fully loaded with eight rounds. Once he had the gun fully loaded Edd threw the shotgun at Todd who caught it surprised.

"You take that shotgun and cover those vents for me," the experienced man told his new protégé.

"What are you going to do?" Todd yelled incredulously at the bloody man in front of him.

"Make a call," Edd told him as he went over to the video phone on the wall as he dialed the number for Eddy's weapons lab.

Eddy picked up soon and Edd saw that he was holding the head of a robo-monkey in the crook of his elbow. It was sparking and had several wires trailing from where the head would be attacked to the shoulders. Eddy was about to open his mouth when he was cut off.

"Eddy no time for small talk. We have an attack force of rat-men. We don't know the details but I think that it will be a big horde. We need your help. I don't have the fire power to hold them off for long."

"Got it. I will be there in seven or eight minutes. Stay safe." and with that Eddy signed off and Edd went over to Todd who was firing at several rat-men coming out of the ceiling and wall vents.

Edd took out his pistol and fired a round into the head of a rat-man killing him before speaking to Todd, "Help me get to the other side of the room. We can flip over a table and use it as a barrier."

Nodding his head Todd killed another rat-man and sprinted to the other side of the room with Edd. Gingerly placing his gun on the floor Todd flipped a metal exam table on its side in front of a corner allowing them to see the entire room. He then picked up his shotgun and started firing again as Edd reached the spot he was at. Edd ducked behind the desk and Todd pointed his shotgun one last time before he was going to duck behind the table. As he pulled the trigger Todd hear a resounding click and that was all the rat-man needed.

Before he knew what was happening Todd was on the floor with a monstrosity clawing at his clothes and face. His shotgun had landed somewhere behind the table. He saw the beast open its mouth and saw the twisted and crooked yellow teeth. It was about to sink its teeth into the boy's face when it let out a death growl as Edd fired two rounds into its chest. Edd then grabbed onto Todd's shirt and practically threw him over the table as he scrambled behind it himself.

Both Edd and Todd reloaded their weapons as they heard more creatures break into their room. When Edd had finished putting the bullets into his revolver he stood up from behind cover and saw that there were at least a dozen rat-men in the room with them scurrying towards their hiding place. Edd carefully took aim and fired round after round into the creatures and as he was about to run dry with only one bullet left in his gun Todd stood up next to him. Edd fired his last round as Todd continued his barrage of lead.

Edd ducked back down and reloaded while Todd fired until the creatures started coming in smaller numbers. At one point both he and Todd were reloading when Edd decided to make a statement to lighten the mood.

"Boy you're lucky. Most guys don't get a containment breach until their second or third day. You got to experience your first only a hour and a half in."

* * *

"Greg!" Edd addressed the snail getting up from behind his cover with a large smile.

"Oh hello there Edd. I noticed the gunfire coming from the floor below me and I figured you might need my help," the sentient snail told the battered scientist and his confused trainee.

"Thanks for the thought. I was almost out of ammo just now. You're such a life saver." Edd told the snail gratefully.

Greg was about to reply when he was cut off by the other humans on the level.

"Greg you big snail. I thought you would still be in my lab," Rolf said to his snail assistant whom he created.

"You sure did scare off those rat-men my good slimy chap. I bet that's the last we'll see of them. For a week at least." Theodore Roosevelt congratulated the snail as he slung his rifle over his back and un-mounted his moose.

"Wait a second! A week! This kind of thing happens often?" Todd asked the men amazed.

"Well not exactly. You see the rat-men go into hiding and come out once every three to five weeks to attack the building. On the other hand there are many other experiments that run amuck and cause containment breaches daily. On a good day we will only have two experiments escape." Edd explained to Todd.

"But where do they all go?"

"Well we are not sure but I suspect they go and hide in the junkyard."

"Okay then...What is the Junkyard?"  
"It is an eight mile by fifteen mile waste disposal area below this building. It is where all of the trash and chemicals that we throw away goes. It has, over the years, become a thriving ecosystem of predatory animals and plants of the most deadly species."

"Well if it is so dangerous then why don't you just destroy the place. Send some napalm or something."

"We thought of that but all of the chemicals are so highly volatile that if we tried to destroy it in any conventional manner the resulting explosion would reduce this building to a smoking crater."

"But couldn't you send some special forces to clear out he place?"

"Technically yes, but we just haven't felt like putting in the effort. Hey anyone else hungry? I'm going to the lunchroom to get a sandwich, you can come if you want."Edd spoke to the men gathered around him as he made his way over to the elevator.

Todd, not knowing what to say just followed the strange cast of men that he had just met into the elevator heading to lunch.

Back at lunch Edd's introductory speech to Todd was cut short as his phone vibrated. He looked at his phone and saw that it was Eddy He pressed the button and had a brief conversation with his friend. He then placed the phone back into his pocket as he addressed the five men sitting around him.

"Well Eddy's team cleared out the rat-men and flushed them back to wherever they were hiding. They are going to take the rat-men that Greg incapacitated and ship them over to the zoo. They are going to need us there in a week when the enclosure is ready. Until then we will just keep them in titanium cages in the lab."

"So Todd, how are you liking the institute so far?" Nicolai asked in his thick Russian bur once Edd had finished speaking.

Everyone quieted down waiting for the answer. This was the deciding point of the day. At this point they were going to see if the man sitting in front of them had the right stuff. They had gotten very bad responses to this question over the years. They ranged from _are you insane_ to _you all need to be institutionalized_. Chewing the food in his mouth he swallowed and took a sip a root beer thinking about the question.

Finally after some time he answered, "This place is insane! All of you are crazy! You have no ethics!...but...this place has potential. I think I will stay for a little while."

_This is a little brainchild of mine that I thought was an interesting idea. It is basically what would happen if the cast of Ed Edd and Eddy were mad scientists. The first few chapters will be kind of like a guide to the world. The story is divided into story lines and story arcs. The story lines are the long haul stories that are told throughout the series. They are like the first twenty or thirty chapters. The first story line with we are in now it the training story line. Story arcs are the chapters that focus on the same thing. They can sometimes be out of order but will always be labeled as to what arc each chapter belongs to. This is the Introduction arc. Story arcs are much smaller than story lines. There is no MAIN character but several characters that the story focuses on. The story changes perspective from chapter to chapter. This may seem very confusing at first but the story will explain all of this on its own. I hoped you enjoyed this and hope that you read on_


	2. Chapter 2 Practice Makes Perfect

_This chapter provides more exposition and helps develop the characters. Don't worry, Todd will not be the main character for the whole series even though it may seem like it. After the next chapter the character the story focuses on will move around from chapter to chapter. _

Training Storyline. Introduction Arc

Just Another Day chapter 2: Practice Makes Perfect

_**Edd's lab: 9:58 am**_

Todd was currently sitting in his chair in his new office. He was taking a break from moving his equipment and personal belongings inside of his office. A week ago he had survived his first day on the job. Surprisingly the day was fairly smooth after the Rat-man attack. Todd had toured around a few labs across the building and was introduced to many more interesting people. In the following days he further studied the inner workings of this mad scientist lab. He even met one of the top executives of the company. He was an alien of course.

Somehow he had been enthralled enough to sign up with the company and start his apprenticeship that may someday lead to him having his own lab. He could honestly say that he had never thought that him deciding to come to and do the interview for one of the most well respected pharmaceutical companies in the world would result in him learning how to perform emergency gene mutation experiments while fending off giant alligator wolves. Luckily he didn't learn that first hand but had heard the story from Nicolai when he told Todd about his first month on the job.

Todd liked Nicolai because, in a way, he was the most sane scientist working at the Institute. That was because he was an open book per say. All of his craziness was outwardly expressed with no filter. This was somehow less disturbing than seeing how calm the other employees were when dealing with insane situations.

Todd was drawn out from his musings when he heard a knock at his door. Turning his head he saw that it was his boss, Mr. Devlin. Getting up from his reclined position he stood up, straightened out his leather jacket and began to continue his work of settling into his office. As he placed a nameplate on his desk he heard a chuckle.

"Honestly Todd. You don't have to pretend like you are working. Go at your own pace, if you want to take a break take a break. Over here we have a laid back policy when it comes to working. You don't have to file reports or research medicines or anything. You do what you want. None of us who work here do it because we have to, we do it for the fun. Each of us makes two to six million per year just for being employed. You see we have made discoveries so profound that the world isn't ready for them all at once. We have a new amazing wonder drug or machine lined up to be released once a year for the next century. Plus we have Eddy working as a military contractor so we get a nice chunk of change from that," Edd explained to the young man in front of him as he waited patiently standing next to his desk.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Anything really. You can continue to unpack, but only if you want to. You can browse the labs. You can come talk to me for info on anything you need to know."

"I do have one question."

"Yeah."

"Does everyone who works here have a gun shop in their office or is it just you?" Todd asked half joking but still half serious.

"Well almost everyone carries a gun. You almost need to. I have an emergency situation cabinet with firearms in it if that is what you are referring to." Edd stated to the young man truthfully.

"Well that does clear some things up," Todd told his boss who was still standing in the doorframe.

"Tell you what why don't you come with me," Doctor Devlin told his assistant as he turned and headed for his office.

Doing as he was told Todd followed his teacher as they walked the short distance to the office of one Eddward Devlin. The office was a blank white but was adorned with many odd knick knacks. Directly behind the desk was a rack with a samurai sword in a red sheath. On the rest of the walls hung posters and trinkets. There was an old pair of black powder dueling pistols mounted in a frame on the right wall. On a table next to the water cooler was an ant farm and a cactus with the nameplate of Jim. Standing directly in front of Todd was Edd. He was putting a key back in his pocket having just unlocked the cabinet labeled Emergency. Edd then opened the cabinet showing Todd the innards of what was there.

There was the 12 gauge shotgun that Todd had become familiar with. There was also an MP5 submachine gun. In the third and final rack for large guns sat an old bolt action rifle. On the shelves spread throughout the cabinet were many handguns. They were all sorts of different types of handguns present. They ranged from .380 automatics to .44 magnum revolvers. The most common type seemed to be 9mm pistols. Along the bottom of the cabinet were several grenades. They seemed to be a mix of frag grenades and incendiaries along with several which Todd had no clue about. As Todd was impressed observing the vast arsenal of firearms that his boss kept in his office he noticed a hand pick up one of the handguns from its shelf.

"Here take this. I figured you didn't have one and if you work here you are probably going to need it," Edd told Todd as he handed him a medium sized pistol. Continuing he added, "It is a Jericho 941 9mm semiautomatic pistol. It has a fifteen round magazine and has never given me any trouble."

"I appreciate the thought but I really don't want to take your gun," Todd replied to his boss not sure what to think of the gesture.

"Oh, so do you have a gun Todd?" Edd questioned his young apprentice.

"Well no, but ..." Todd started to reply before he was cut off by Edd.

"Now you do. Look I don't feel right just letting you work for me without protection."

"I understand what you're saying but the only times I have shot a gun was when I used to go hunting with my dad, and during the attack a few days ago."

"Okay now I understand you have never shot a handgun before. I can see where the problem comes in. Well we can fix that problem really quick," Edd replied with a mischievous grin.

_**Training level 281: 10:42am**_

Todd was standing in front of a table on which was laid out several boxes of ammunition. Along with those were several pistols and the appropriate magazines for the weapons. The table was in a large cement room about eighty feet by forty feet. Todd was currently holding a .45 caliber pistol. Thirty feet in front of him was a latex mannequin designed to look like an alien. It was filled with many blood packs to simulate gunshot wounds. At the moment it was oozing green blood from several large bullet holes. Edd had insisted on teaching him how to shoot a wide variety of handguns "Just in case."

Todd had started out shooting the 9mm that his boss had offered him initially. He found it to be quite comfortable and accurate to shoot. He then tried out a Beretta but felt that the grip was too wide for comfort to him. Edd had handed him a .357 magnum revolver after that. While the gun was weighted and felt good in his hands the round was a bit too powerful for him and was quite loud, even with hearing protection. Somehow the good doctor had convinced him to fire a .44 magnum revolver. He got as good of a grip as he could on the revolver and fired once...only once. The sound and kickback were enough for him to decide that he was not going to have that gun as his sidearm.

Todd was then handed a .45 colt automatic. It felt good in his hands and held a very powerful round. It had a large but manageable kick to it. He was able to get six out of eight rounds onto the target in front of him. The pistol he was holding was currently tied with the Jericho as his number one choice.

Todd ejected a magazine out of his .45 as he turned around and placed the empty steel magazine on the table, picking up a new one. He loaded it into his gun and chambered a round. Turning back toward the target he sighted in the alien invader. He stared at the bulbous latex head trough the sights of his pistol as he squeezed off a shot. It went straight through the right eye with a splash of green paint to symbolize blood.

"Bull's-eye kid. Literally actually. So Todd, have you decided on which gun you like the best?" Edd asked with interest.

Taking off his ear muffs Todd placed the gun on the table and looked at his boss for a second before replying, "I'm not sure. I like the .45 and the Jericho but I don't know which one I like more."

"Those are two good choices and they both have their pros and cons. The .45 packs more of a punch but holds less ammo. Let me give you some advice, take both of them for a little while and carry them both until you can decide which one you want," Edd told Todd picking up the .44 and .357 revolvers.

"Good idea boss so... what are you doing," Todd asked as Edd stood next to him a large revolver in each hand.

"You might want to put your ear muffs back on." The doctor told him as he lifted the guns and aimed at the oozing alien bust.

Todd quickly and hastily put on his hearing protection right before a thunderous boom from the .44 magnum ripped through the alien and the room. There was a large gaping hole in the center of the latex alien's head. Faster than Todd could believe Edd shot off the head and arms of the alien with his two revolvers barley reacting to their considerably overbearing recoil. Edd had only stopped after he had unleashed all twelve rounds from his two hand canons.

Edd then gingerly placed the guns on the table and unloaded each of them with care. After he had reloaded both guns with high power hollow-point bullets Edd took off his ear muffs. Edd then picked up a magazine for the 9mm Beretta and began to reload it as he spoke to his amazed protégé.

"That was fun. Would you mind helping me reload these magazines," he said pointing across the table at the empty mags spread on it.

Todd did as he was told and helped his boss to place new bullets into the magazines located around him. As he was placing a 9mm into the magazine for the Jericho Edd spoke to him.

"Why don't you finish loading up the magazines for the .45 and the Jericho. Once you finish that you can go over to the door on the right and go into the training room with those weapons. I will meet you when I finish up the rest of these." Edd told Todd without stopping the process of reloading the magazines for the guns.

Soon enough Todd was finished with his task and tucked the two guns into hip holsters that fit over his belt which Edd had given him. In his pockets he had placed the two spare mags for his weapons that he had been given. Making sure he wasn't forgetting anything Todd walked over to the door Edd had mentioned and opened it.

What Todd saw was beyond anything he had ever imagined. Inside of the room was what looked like a city. It had tall buildings that were at least five stories. The strangest thing though was that the city was made to look like a war zone. Many of the building had gaping holes in them where explosions had obviously gone off. Many others were filled with bullet holes and broken glass. There was smoke rising from one corner of the city and demolished vehicles adorned the streets. Todd was almost fooled into thinking that he was looking at a scene in a movie.

As he was gazing across the destroyed cityscape he barely noticed Edd walk up to him.

"Its really something isn't it. We used to fix the place after each training session but we just figured that it added a certain level of authenticity...and coolness of course." Edd replied in a hilariously blunt and serious manner.

"So what are we doing here?" Todd asked confused as to why he was brought into this training arena.

"So glad you asked," Edd said as he took out a cell phone and spoke into it, "Gene...Yes...good then...Yeah we're ready send in the zombies."

"What did you just say!" Todd all but screamed at Edd.

Without missing a beat Edd simply replied, "Send in the zombies."

"What? Why? Zombies? How? WHAT?" Todd stuttered out.

"Well I noticed that your aim was a little off when you were training. I find that you get the best results when you are in the heat of battle. Oh by the way, just to give you an incentive as to not waste ammo you are holding around seventy rounds of ammunition and I just ordered three hundred zombies into this arena." Edd told Todd starting towards a motorcycle parked next to a bombed out cafe.

Stupefied Todd yelled out, "Wait! What do you expect me to do!"

Getting onto the motorcycle Edd told him before putting on his helmet, "You see that tall silver building in the center of the city. On the top floor there is a room with a red door labeled emergency. Go inside and you will find several weapon crates with some assault rifles and about five hundred rounds of ammunition, so have at it," Edd told him as he sped away on his bike.

Todd not liking the sound of this little training event turned around and headed for the door leading back to the room he had occupied before. As he tried the door he found it was locked, of course. It was a heavy duty steel door, there was no getting through it. He turned back to the center of the city where the tall building that was his objective was located.

Through the breeze of an artificial wind he heard the faint sounds of a motorcycle and... moaning. The first sounds of the coming horde. Todd sighed then took out his .45 pistol. He pulled the slide and chambered a round. He then flipped off the safety on the gun and held it in his right hand. Putting his right foot out Todd started moving to the silver obelisk in the distance. He had quite a walk to go on.

BLAM! BLAM!...BLAM!

Todd ran feverishly as he fired behind him where the large horde of ravenous flesh eaters chased him. At this point Todd was starting to have second thoughts about the Institute. Sure they had rat birds and shark-topuses, but was it really worth all of the hassle and near death experiences. This was the second time in the past week he had been involved in shootouts with monsters that seemed to be out of old horror movies.

BLAM!, Todd blasted away a large fat zombie missing an arm that was quickly making its way towards him after he turned a corner. It was stretching its arm to Todd as a large hole appeared in its head. Jumping over the corpse he jogged on his path to the large building that was his goal. While he was energized from adrenalin he still was slowly loosing speed. He had been running for nearly thirty minutes after he first encountered the horde.

The building that reflected light in all directions was no more than ten minutes away now. with renewed vigor he sprinted further pushing his body to its limits. As he ran down the empty street the buildings on either side stood ominously. Each one could hold more undead threats that could kill him. There was a coffee shop, a skate shop, a deli, and an apartment building along with several less recognizable structures.

Todd had just passed the deli and was half way down the street when out from the intersection in front of him a walker lumbered out with a crooked limp. He stopped and took aim, quickly sighting his target and squeezing off a shot. The powerful .45 round tore through the zombie's skull, pulverizing its brain matter. As soon as the bullet left his gun the slide locked back empty. Todd quickly ejected the magazine and placed in a fresh one. He released the slide chambering a round for his last magazine for the .45.

He took no more than two steps when three more biters rounded the corner having heard the shot. One appeared to have been a doctor, his white coat torn and bloodied. Another was a young black kid about fifteen years old. The last was a policeman who had a large portion of his face missing. It appeared to have been bitten off. With a slightly shaky hand Todd sighted in the kid first as he was the closest. BLAM! It ripped through the zombies cheek causing gory, but, non harmful damage. BLAM! A chunk of the zombie's skull went flying away from its head as the zombie dropped to the ground.

As fast as he could manage Todd took aim at the policeman. He pulled the trigger and dropped the zombie with a clean headshot. As he tried to switch over to the doctor his first bullet missed because of a pain in his shoulder. Looking to his right he saw a zombie from the deli behind him sinking his teeth into the leather jacket that Todd was wearing. With speed Todd tucked and rolled under the zombie using instincts he didn't know he had. Lurching up he pressed the .45 against the center of the beast's forehead and blasted away.

Weary of another attack Todd turned back to the doctor that was only feet away now and dispatched him with a single shot. With the immediate threat gone Todd pulled his jacket off of his right arm and checked for the horrifying bite wound. Instead, he found a red mark but no broken skin. Luckily for him his jacket saved him from certain death. Pulling his sleeve back on Todd started off to the intersection again until he saw the shadows. Along the broken pavement he saw the outlines of dozens of figures against the stark sunlight. They were coming from the left and sure enough he saw the first of them in seconds.

He aimed and loosed two rounds into the crowd until his gun locked back empty. Without any ammo left for the gun he tucked it into his right holster. As he backtracked several steps he drew his Jericho 9mm and fired four or five rounds as he turned back in the direction he came from. He was greeted by the horde he had escaped minutes earlier turning the opposite corner of the street he was on.

Well here was a conundrum. Todd was in the middle of the street that had only two entrances. On one side was a painful teeth filled death, and on the other side was...pretty much the same thing. He couldn't go left. He couldn't go right. Todd was stuck with no way to get around the zombies. But what about above them?

As the idea popped into his head Todd sprinted over to the apartment building in the middle of the street. He tried to open the door for some shelter from the walkers. It was locked, a problem quickly solved by a 9mm bullet. Barging into the building Todd looked around him.

He was in the lobby where a smashed telephone and computer lay on a battered desk. There were two doors leading out of the lobby. He ran through the first one to his right and found a hallway to several rooms. Backtracking he went to the other door and saw what he was looking for, a staircase. Running up the stairs he dogged several obstacles such as broken lamps and chairs. In about a minute or so he had reached the door to the roof. Opening it he found himself overlooking the street below.

The dead were choking all the space in the streets for hundreds of yards. There were definitely more than seven hundred in the street. Even worse they were plunging into the entrance to the building he was currently in. He jogged around the roof looking for any way off. He was expecting a fire escape of a similarly tall building to jump onto. Instead he found that he was isolated on the roof with no way off except the way he had just come.

As he looked at how hopeless his situation was the zombies began banging on the roof access door. Turning Todd readied his gun and took aim. Things were about to get real.

Todd prepared to make his last stand when suddenly he got an idea. All he needed to do was

_Transmission corrupted. Unable to relay full data. Will post uncorrupted excerpts of data message:_

So with a yell Todd fired the bazooka as he jumped from the traffic light onto the hood of the tank. As the explosive destroyed the robot gorilla he moved...

And the air was filled with lasers as the fighter jets circled Todd and his nuclear speedboat. Looking down at the timeron the C-4 plastic explosive strapped to his leg he saw that he had only thirteen seconds to figure out which wire to cut. As he took out a knife to sever the wire and save him a sea serpent swarm shot out of the water in front of him and...

Despite past their differences both Todd and the two-headed dragon rode onward to the silver building where they would find shelter. As the dragon banked right...

-_Data message corruption fixed. Message will continue as normal un-interfered. _

"Hey Todd. I heard that you had quite an adventure today." Edd stated to his young assistant.

Currently Todd and Edd were sitting inside of Edd's office after a rather eventful training session. Todd's leather jacket was missing a sleeve and had several scorch marks. His right eye was swollen and a cut above his head was bleeding a little. At the moment he looked very displeased.

"Gene said that you ordered over a thousand zombies into the city."

Nervously Edd rubbed the back of his neck explaining, "There was a little breakdown in communication. But don't worry! I promise it will not happen again."

"Where were you exactly. I mean after I got to the top of the roof of the building you told me to go to?"

"Oh. That well I got a little sidetracked and didn't notice the time."

" Mr. Devlin, I was on that roof for four hours calling you."

"That's right there were like fifty-five missed calls on my phone. Sorry really."

"The janitor found me for Christ's sake! You left me alone in a room with thousands of zombies and forgot about me. You don't even seem to have any remorse for what you did!"

"Todd let me tell you something. In this job, if you stay, you will adapt. You have to. I've seen good men and women, with families shot, stabbed, and torn apart. While they were cloned later, those images don't go away. I wake up in the middle of night screaming because of what I see here. That is why I put up this social barricade, to let me sleep. I may seem cold and insane to you now but in time you may come to understand." Edd said leveling with his young and astonished assistant.

"That... I... Why...," Todd struggled through after hearing his teacher's heartfelt admission.

"I know young Skywalker. It goes without saying," Eddward Devlin said to a quiet Todd giving him a pat on his shoulder. Getting up from his seated position he went over to the mini fridge in the corner of his office and opened the door asking nonchalantly, "You want some scotch?"

"What... No thanks... Well maybe just a sip." Todd sputtered still reeling over his Boss's comments earlier and the fact that he just once again put up his social barrier.

"I will pour you a whole glass after what you have been through. A good old Irish whiskey vintage 1983. This will loosen you right up." Edd told him as he poured two glasses of Irish scotch, one for him, one for Todd.

Edd handed Todd a glass of the brown liquid over the desk, taking a sip of his own at the same time. Edd, while he pretended to be uninterested was observing his surroundings and situations with absolute scrutiny as he always did. He had obviously noticed that Todd was sore and injured so he quickly calculated a plan of action. Edd opened his desk drawer and pulled out a pneumatic contact syringe.

"Todd would you be in the mood for a quick dose of medicine to speed up healing?" Edd posed onto Todd.

"Defiantly not. I just want to sit here and drink away my confusion."

"Well that is certainly understandable I mean WHAT IS THAT BEHIND YOU!" Edd screamed as he leaned over his desk and stabbed Todd in the neck with his syringe full of cellular replication booster while he was distracted.

"What...OW! Why did you do that?" Todd yelled out shocked.

"One you needed a cellular regeneration boost. Two You plan of drinking away confusion was flawed as alcohol only makes you more confused. Three you need to look good to go clubbing tonight." Edd explained to the flabbergasted man in front of him.

"Who said I was going clubbing?"

"I just did. Look kid it is Friday and you got invited to go on a night of adventure with the guys. It will show you that we really are just human."

"You know what... Why not? I have not been to a bar except once, on my twenty-first birthday and the entire rest of my life was focused on study and jobs. It is finally time to relax."

Edd cracked a smile at Todd finally letting go saying, "Good, I will go pick you up at your apartment around eight. Dress somewhere in between social and casual."

Alert after the last comment despite the alcohol Todd asked, "How do you know where I live?"

Grinning and trying to hold back laughter Edd stated, "You are really asking a scientist in a top secret research facility that can access any file on the planet how he knows your address?"

"Right dumb question. One more though. Where were you today when I was training? Really?"

With a sigh Edd drained the rest of his scotch with one swig. He went over to the samurai sword and rubbed a finger over it as if he were looking for dust. He then turned around and placed his glass on the desk before looking at Todd, as if he were scrutinizing him. Which to be fair he was. Finally after a mildly awkward pause he spoke.

"I was there when you were training. At least at first. Then I got a call. One of my childhood friends had gotten a brain aneurism. She is a sweet girl. We even used to date but broke it off deciding to just stay friends. Anyway they needed me to operate on her so I teleported over to the sea lab where she worked. Over a mile below the ocean! The teleporter wasn't even supposed to be able to transport humans, but they needed me. The operation was seven hours. That is why I was late and you were waiting. A friend was in need of me so I helped."

Todd stared at his glass of scotch swishing it around before speaking, "So you would rather me think you were a jerk with no morals who almost got me killed, than tell me a depressing story?"

Smiling half heartedly Edd replied, "Apparently so. I just didn't want to bring it up that's all. I mean today I was in control of a life. It is a wondrous, yet... horrible feeling. I hope you never experience it."

"You have layers. I just peeled away layer one. So how many more until there are none left to discover?"

"I wouldn't wait for it." Edd said smiling again.

Todd and Edd talked for about an hour after that. Smalltalk mostly but every now and then they did stray to more serious topics. They tried to make those brief and sparingly though. The overall mood was light and pleasant. It was an eye opener for Todd as he spoke to his new superior and learned of how he grew up in a cul-de-sac with several close friends who later joined the company.

"As much as I would like to continue talking We must go to our respective homes to get ready to party." Edd spoke to his assistant as they passed his office on the way to the transport tubes.

"Yes well, see you at eight." Todd said as the doors of the tube closed and he was whisked away to the lobby.

_**Todd's Apartment: 8:09pm**_

Todd stood in front of his mirror as he checked over what he was wearing. He had on a pair of black pants with a white belt. A blue button up shirt with a white T-shirt underneath adorned his chest. His shoes weren't dress shoes but looked nice enough. Looking at his forehead he saw a faint red line. His cut was almost fully healed thanks to the cell booster he had been given. His hair was a little singed from the fire so he had to cut it a little. Now that it was short it puffed up more in the front than it used to.

Looking down at his watch he noticed that it was just past eight o'clock. Edd and the guys should be arriving soon. Todd then got out of the bathroom, turning off the light. He looked around his apartment observing it. It wasn't much but he liked it. It had a good TV, a small kitchen, and a fair living room. Connected by a door was a bedroom and the adjoined bathroom. As he was observing his living quarters he heard the intercom at his door buzz.

"Todd it's us, come down so we can party," came the amped up voice of Eddward over the intercom.

Pushing down on the button at the door he replied, "Be there in a minute."

_**Todd's apartment complex bottom floor 8:12pm**_

Todd had just made it out of the elevator when he heard the excited Russian accent of Nicolai greeting him with, "You, young man, are in for a night you shall not be forgetting."

Todd looked at the men assembled around him that he would be accompanying this night. There was of course Nicolai and Edd. He also saw Rolf and Eddy, whom he had met latter on during his first day at the Institute. There were also two other men who he had never seen before. One was a well built man with a pronounced chin and the other was nearly as tall as Rolf.

Nicolai was dressed in a pair of dark jeans with a black T-shirt and a ruddy reddish brown leather jacket over it. He seemed to be extremely ready to party already. Standing next to him was Rolf. He was in a pair of jeans with a yellow and red short sleeved shirt over a long sleeved white shirt. Off to the left of them were the rest of the men. Edd was wearing a pair of white dress pants with a dark green button up shirt and a purple suit jacket over that. He definitely wanted to attract attention. Eddy had on a dark blue tuxedo suit with a white T-shirt underneath.

"Todd I don't think you have met Ed or Kevin yet," Doctor Devlin told him as he gestured to the two men standing next to him.

Kevin was the well built man Todd had observed earlier. He took in his jeans and black T-shirt under a dark black leather jacket, as he shook the man's hand. The other man, Ed, was wearing a green jacket with a red T-shirt underneath. Todd said a few pleasantries before Edd spoke to him.

"Okay guys first stop is Jake's bar in the middle of the city on Sarek Street. Todd you are riding with me. Get ready because you are about to experience a night like you have never even dreamed of." Edd told them all with a mischievous grin.

Todd wasn't certain what would happen tonight but he knew if experience at the workplace was anything to go by he really would never forget it. Tonight was going to be a good night.


	3. Chapter 3 Guys Night

Just Another Day chapter 3: Guy's Night

_**Edd's car 8:29 pm**_

Edd was currently driving his red Dodge Challenger. He had the inside modified with blue lights along the paneling so you could see during the night. Eddy was riding shotgun and flipping through the stations on the radio trying to find something good. Ed was in the back seat with Todd and was currently engaged in conversation with him.

"...And so that is how I learned that wood is an acceptable replacement for titanium support struts on the international space station."

"I get that but how did you get William Shatner to do the countdown for your rocket launch?"

"Oh well I called in a few favors. It cost me almost twenty thousand to get him to the launch headquarters before zero hour but it was so worth it."

"I could see why," Todd said after hearing the very tall man's interesting story.

Suddenly Todd was started by Eddy's outburst from the front seat, "Come on! All of this music sucks! Why can't they play good music like they used to?"

Calmly Edd said as he turned a corner, "In the glove compartment there is a CD case. Look for the one titled Emergency party mix."

"Sounds pretty fruity Double D. You sure we should be listening to that with a car full of guys?" Eddy said sarcastically.

"Just shut up and put it in," he told Eddy as he stopped at a light.

Grinning Eddy took out the correct CD and placed it into the console. They all waited as the track loaded up and Eddy turned up the volume. The car was completely silent for several seconds until...Boom "Pour Some Sugar on Me" started playing. Everyone in the car looked around silent for a few moments before bursting out in laughter.

"Okay Double D I have to say that song isn't half bad," Eddy said in between peals of laughter.

"I agree!" Ed said with a big grin.

With that the rest of the car ride was spent badly singing along to the songs on Edd's CD. For the most part they were classic rock songs although there were a few newer songs in there. It was a good start to the night as is loosened up Todd. The car ride was only a few more minutes. They soon arrived at Jake's Bar. Each of them got out of the car and started off toward the entrance of the busy bar. Before they got far Todd was stopped by Edd.

"Todd wait up. Eddy, you and Ed go in and order the usual. Todd come with me."

So Todd did as he was told and followed his boss to the back of his car as he popped the trunk. Inside Todd was unsurprised with the contents. There were several pistols, a shotgun, and a few sub machine guns. There also appeared to be grenades, gasoline, a spare tire, duct tape, and a toolbox. However there was one item that was out of place in the trunk that Todd immediately recognized. Pulling it out he presented Todd with something he had thought lost.

"Here's your jacket. I know you thought it was destroyed earlier today, but I have to tell you...it was. But I managed to get it molecularly scanned and recreated exactly as it was. It is sort of a sorry you were almost killed present."

Not knowing what to say Todd simply said, "Thanks."

The young apprentice took the jacket hesitantly, making sure that it would not suddenly burst into flames for no apparent reason. He slipped it on immediately surprised when the familiar smell of aftershave, cologne, deodorant, and fast food hit his nostrils. It was amazingly impossible even for a scientist like Eddward Devlin. He placed his hands into his pockets and felt several things. He pulled them out and found: a minty gum wrapper, seventy two cents change, several root beer bottle caps, and a tube of chap stick. His boss wasn't kidding when he said it was recreated exactly.

" If you hadn't figured it out by now we sort of have a baptism through fire type of thing going on at the institute. It is safe to say that you were baptized several times today," Edd said proudly as he and Todd walked into the bar.

Todd observed that the bar was quite large on the inside. There was a large open dance floor in the middle where music was blaring. On the sides were several booths and tables with a intermixing throng of patrons. In the far back of the large room they were in the bar stretched across the back wall, having five or six bartenders manning it at a time. To both the far right and left corners of the room there was a staircase leading up to a second floor. The middle of the second floor was open to the first with a railing around it to make a balcony.

Todd followed the well knowledged man in front of him as he led him the group of coworkers that were in a circle chatting with the bartenders in front of the large bar. He recognized the men he had met in the garage of his apartment. As he walked up he was thrown into the conversation Nicolai was having with one of the bartenders.

"I am not kidding Jack! That weak English Vodka you serve is a disgrace to this bar. What about our last conversation we had about this?" Nicolai slurred through in his thick Russian accent as he held up a glass with what Todd assumed was Vodka.

Jack the bartender was a well built man of average height. He had dark black hair slicked back onto his forehead and a slightly scruffy face with a rough goatee. He had on the standard issue bartending gear, black pants with a white shirt and black vest. He had a towel slung over his shoulder and was mixing a cocktail in a shaker as he spoke back with amusement.

"Like I told you last time, and the time before that, and even the time before that; you are an anomaly. Your liver should have failed you years ago and somehow you are still trucking. I don't know how I can explain this any simpler, Americans can't handle their liquor as well as you so I can't serve the nuclear strength you want."

Smiling Nicolai bent down and retrieved a wooden crate from the ground in front of him that Todd hadn't noticed until now. He opened the lid and drew out a large bottle saying, "I knew you would be just as stubborn as always, so I came prepared. I received several cases of Vodka from Papa on my birthday so I brought one for you to stash with your other high price liquors."

Jack took the bottle with a smile as he looked over it and examined the high quality of the liquor inside. While Jack was examining his bottle Todd looked to the open crate and saw the label on the bottle. _Isaacs premium Russian Vodka_.

Surprised, Todd asked Nicolai, "Is it just a coincidence or are you related to the brewer?" gesturing towards the bottles.

Kevin chuckled and said, "No coincidence, Nicolai Isaacs right here just happens the be the son of Victor Isaacs, owner of the finest Vodka brewery in all of Russia."

Jack looked back at the ensemble crew in front of him as he placed the bottle of Vodka on the counter as he took out several glasses and began speaking, "How much do you want for the case Isaacs?"

"Nothing it is free. I get regular shipments so it really isn't a problem."

"Well I just can't leave you hanging. How about this All drinks you guys get tonight will be on the house, starting with a round of fine Russian Vodka from our fine Russian friend." Looking at Todd he began pouring the drink into shot glasses and said, "Well it looks like we have a newcomer. How did you meet up with this little band of misfits. Did they hit you with their car?"

Todd chuckled lightly at the comment hoping that it was a joke as he spoke back, "No nothing that simple. I just recently started working with them actually."

"Oh, so how is the Institute treating you? Have you met the moth-man yet?" Jack asked seeming interested and not in the least bit ruffled by the comment he just made.

"You know about the Institute? But...How...isn't it...classified or something," Todd managed to stammer out.

Rolf patted him on the shoulder and spoke lightly amused, "Come now young man, Jack has been our favorite bartender for...I don't know, going on...seven years. Of course he knows about our job."

"Well...that is to be expected with you guys I guess. What about man moth now?" Todd humorously said.

"Nothing to worry about right now Todd. Just enjoy yourself tonight." Edd said patting him on the shoulder and handing him a shot of Vodka. Continuing he lifted up his glass and said, "Well gentlemen, tonight is a special night. We welcome a new member into our team of crazy guys. May we one day look back on this night and many more like it with no regrets except for the headaches we will have in the morning."

With that Edd gulped down his shot with the other men following suit. The warm and strong liquid traced paths down their throats as the night began.

_**Jake's Bar 1 hour later**_

Todd was sitting at a round table with Kevin and Nicolai shooting the breeze as they engaged in their drinking. In the middle of the table there was an accumulation of empty beer bottles and shot glasses. Currently they were taking turns pouring shots of tequila as the passed around the bottle. All of the men were loosened up. Ed and Doctor D were on the dance floor partying their hearts out. Mr. Devlin had lost his jacket to the crowd sometime during the night. Eddy was trying to pick up women and somehow got a few numbers. Rolf was chatting with Jack the bartender.

After taking a swig Kevin continued, "So Todd, as I was saying. I was in the plane and it was going down. Now remember this was a very large cargo plane so it was fairly difficult to maneuver before everything happened. Anyway the plane had a huge hole in the side from the explosion and it was riddled with bullets. We were crashing at a fifty or sixty degree angle and had no chance of survival. I was desperately clinging to the straps of my seat trying not to be sucked out of the back of the plane as the fighter jets were circling us and still firing," Taking a moment he paused the story to pour himself another shot of tequila and drink it.

Getting back to the story, " Then a jolt shook the plane and I thought that another missile hit us. When I looked up I saw that Nicolai had somehow managed to get from the cargo hold of the plane to the cockpit and somehow was flying the plane even though half of the equipment was wrecked. The jolt shook us again and I realized that it was turbulence. I heard a boom to my right and saw a fighter jet plummeting to the ground in a nosedive. I looked over at Ed, the big guy on the dance floor, and saw that he had this huge handgun in his hand and was firing through the holes in the plane at the jets as he had braced himself between a seat and the wall of the plane. Anyway three minutes and ten thousand terrifying feet later we had taken out the other two jets and had managed to survive a crash landing in Siberia!" Kevin finished off with a gleam in his eye.

Nicolai swallowed a shot and joined into the tale finishing the story, " It isn't as terrific as he makes it out to be. Now don't get me wrong it was insane, just not so much action movie as disaster movie. Well I hope that answers your question as to how our first office vacation went. FYI they have gotten less murdery since then."

Todd just smiled his head a little hazy as he said, "Honestly, I should have expected as much from you guys.

After that Todd took a sip of the pint glass of beer he had in front of him. It was almost empty and he would soon go get a refill. He grabbed a handful of the fries that were in front of him and munched on them as he pondered his career path and what a ride it had been. A question entered his mind and he asked Kevin.

"From what I could tell you guys are a close knit group. Mr. Devlin said that you and several other scientists who were the founding members of the Institute had lived together in one neighborhood. Were you guys always such good friends?"

"HA!"Kevin blurted out loudly knocking over a beer bottle with his arm when he nearly fell out of his chair. Continuing he added, " I wouldn't call myself a scientist. I am more of a advanced future transportation theorist and experimental engineer. But were all of us fast friends? No, quite the contrary. The Eds, that's The tall guy on the dance floor, Devlin, and Eddy McGee, were hated by most of the kids on our block. They always used to pull these really badly planned scams. It would go south and we would take back our money from them and humiliate them."

Surprised Todd commented," Sounds like you guys were best pals from the start."

Chuckling Kevin forged onward, "Despite all that they were eventually accepted into the social hierarchy. It did involve a cross country trip with several very revealing moments culminating into the final showdown between Eddy and hid Big Brother. Both of them disliked each other before but they hate each other now. "

"Nobody mentioned that Eddy had a brother?"

"I'm not surprised. It is a sore subject since Eddy and his brother have denounced each other. Plus Eddy's brother, Daniel, has become a bit of a super villain and mad scientist mix. Now he calls himself the Black Typhoon. " Kevin told him with a snort at the ridiculous name.

Not believing what he was hearing Todd asked, "Wait. Wait. First thing, aren't we mad scientists? Second Eddy's brother is a super villain!"

Kevin took another shot of tequila and answered with minimal slurring considering how drunk they were, "We are not really mad scientist, that is just a joke. We actually have standards and rules and principals believe it or not. We don't use human test subjects for one. In fact we haven't even used human DNA in over six years. anytime we need something like that we just clone some. Another thing is that all of our experiments stay in the facilities where they are created. Those villains make monsters with intent to unleash them upon the world."

Kevin leaned back in his chair for a second feeling satisfied before remembering that there was a second part of the they question, "Daniel is a villain. Right. I almost forgot about that. But I didn't, " Kevin said waving his finger in front of Todd. "Daniel or Black Typhoon as he is known is part of the Worldwide organization called New Legion. He heads his own team named the Doom 6. I would tell you more but this is neither the time nor the place."

Todd turned to ask Nicolai about the legitimacy of the story but was faced with an empty seat. Todd looked around in his seat but no matter how much he craned his head he could not find his Russian friend.

"Uh Kevin...Where did Nicolai go? He was just here."

"No telling Todd. He is a bit of an oddball even for us. He will show up sometime later on though."

Todd was not satisfied with the answer but accepted it. He looked around once more taking in the sight of the bar. The music was pumping and many people were dancing. Eddy had joined Doctor D on the dance floor and was partying away. Eddy had several red marks on his face where women had slapped him. Sitting next to Rolf in a barstool was Ed. Those two were currently engaged in a drinking contest. Rolf was winning but Ed wasn't a push over. Kevin was swaying slightly in his seat. His eyes were unfocused on various positions throughout the bar. Todd himself was staring at the bubbles in the bottom of his glass of beer. He had only one, maybe two sips left.

He felt a buzz in his pocket as he stared at his beverage. Taking his hand off of the glass mug he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. On screen was a text from Nicolai. It read, "Meet me at Metropolis Live." Todd was not familiar with the place Dr Isaacs had mentioned and was about to ask Kevin about it when he saw that he had his phone out and was getting up out of his chair.

Kevin patted Todd on the shoulder as he told him, "Okay Todd looks like we are going to Metropolis Live. Finish your drink and go to the car."

"Okay but one question. What is Metropolis Live?"

"A Karaoke bar just off sixth and Kent." Kevin said amused. "I hope you like singing."

A karaoke bar. Of course Todd thought. Todd was an okay singer but he had never sung in public. It wasn't something he usually thought about doing but in his inebriated state he was up for anything. He gulped down his last bit of beer and got out of his chair ready to leave.

_**Metropolis Live 10:55pm**_

Todd once again rode in the same car as Ed Edd and Eddy. Luckily Edd's car had an artificial intelligence system that allowed the car to drive itself. Todd heard something about the feature becoming standard after some incident with a hallucinogenic skunk spray that entered the ventilation system. The Karaoke place was pretty lively inside. There was a bar along with many tables throughout the floor leading to a large stage where people got up to sing. At the moment Nicolai was somehow singing a perfect rendition of Rolling in the Deep by Adelle despite his overwhelming accent.

Todd was sipping on a drink called a green tornado. It was minty and fruity at the same time. At this point he was feeling very good and was almost ready to get up and sing.

On the other side of the bar Eddy was talking to Rolf about their newest member.

"So Rolf what do you thing of the newbie?"

"Well Eddy, that is a difficult question for Rolf to answer. He seems to be adjusting well but there is something off. Usually the new guys are a water out of fish."

"You mean fish out of water."

"That is what I just said."

"Anyway... isn't it good that he fits in so quickly?"

Rolf scratched his chin thinking of what to say before continuing, "Rolf supposes so, but... It is just so much to get used to so quickly. I haven't seen anyone so comfortable so soon. Except for that Russian singing pop on the stage over there. But he is an exception, he is technically insane." Rolf sighed before going on, "Rolf is merely afraid that Todd will burn out."

Confused Eddy asked, "Wait it has been almost a week. Those guys that flip show signs of cracking by now."

"That is what I am worried about Ed boy. I fear that if he does go over the edge, he will never recover." Rolf said with a heavy heart.

"Ed boy... Really? I thought you had stopped that. Anyway, I think we just have to offer the most encouragement possible and hope for the best. The real task has yet to come. Once a month has past we will know whether he is up to snuff."

"What if in a month he is fine but two years from now he goes under. At that point we can't just wipe his memory and send him back. Too much time has passed for his experiences to become engrained onto his memory banks."

"What are you talking about. That has never happened before. Besides why are you talking so depressingly. You were never a pessimist so why now?"

"You are right Eddy. Rolf looks on the bright side. By the way I do think that he will become a great scientist. I just have some worries. They are probably baseless anyway."

With that unpleasant conversation over Rolf and Eddy talked and joked some more until it was Eddy's turn to go up and sing. When he left the table Rolf made his way over to Ed and Nicolai who were in an avid discussion on monster movies. Ed was debating with Nicolai that the American version of Godzilla wasn't a true Godzilla movie except for the name. Nicolai was trying to argue that it had all of the aspects of a Godzilla movie so it should count.

Edd was sitting down next to Todd to have a chat with him. Edd handed him a glass of Scotch and adjusted his chair so he was facing both Todd and the stage where Eddy was badly singing Radioactive by Imagine Dragons.

"Todd."

"Yeah?"

"How are you doing. I mean sanity wise. Are you becoming depressed? Are you hearing voices or have multiple personalities?"

"No. Not at all. Why do you ask?"

"Well the one week mark is usually the big decider. If you make it past your first week and don't show any signs of mental deterioration you will be able to make it through life working at this job."

Todd accepted this answer and the two of them did little for about forty minutes. They chatted about different things. They touched upon Star Trek and Superman. They also talked about the job at the Institute and the details involved therein. Their conversation ended in a comfortable silence shortly before Eddward went up to sing the song Kryptonite.

Todd had to admit that Edd was a good singer, albeit a bit goofy in his Bright shirt and pants. As he was staring at the man on stage he noticed someone sit down next to him. Todd turned expecting to find one of his coworkers next to him but instead found a young woman sitting there. She looked to be about 23 and had very short black hair. Todd had to admit that she was very attractive and appealing to the eyes. She flashed him a smile as she reached out her hand.

"Hello there." she said to Todd with a coy shyness.

Amused Todd reached out his hand and replied, "Hello there. Can I help you..."

"Gina, Gina Kent. Yes you can. I was just wondering if you minded if I sit here since this place is so crowded, and you looked like you could use someone to talk to, not that you looked desperate or anything. But you are the only one sitting at this table, unless someone is already sitting here in which case..." Gina's nervous rambling was stopped thankfully by Todd answering her question.

"Yes Gina I am alone right now. I am Todd by the way," he told Gina entertained by how nervous she seemed.

Todd noticed that Doctor D was just finishing his song and making his way over to the table as Gina asked her next question.

"So Todd did you come here alone or with a girlfriend?"she asked pretending to not care.

Todd saw that Edd was almost to the table so he quickly spoke up, "I came with a group of friends, uh guy friends, but I'm sure that they would be okay without my presence for a few minutes, "He stammered out quickly looking in the direction of Edd who seemed to get the message as he went over to the table with the other guys.

"Oh really well I came here alone. I was with a group of friends but they uh...they uhh left to go see... a movie and." Gina was quickly spurting out with little sense being made.

Stopping her Todd asked a question that he never would have had he been sober, "Gina. Okay now that you stopped trying to lie I want to ask you a question. Are you flirting with me?"

Her smile deflated and she simply asked, "What gave it away?"

"Well for one when you said that the place was full half of the tables were empty. I mean come on I'm drunk and I realized that."

"Sorry for wasting your time I'll just leave then," she said quickly getting up out of her chair.

Before she could get away Todd grabbed her arm and told her, "Gina stay. I don't want you to leave. I really was having fun."

"Really?" Gina asked incredulously.

Todd simply flashed her a large drunken smile.

Gina smiled back and asked, "So Todd, are you going to be singing tonight?"

"No way! Even drunk I am not that stupid."

"You don't seem all that inebriated. I mean most guys turn into complete jerks after they have a couple beers. I guess that means you are not like most guys."

Oh you have no idea Todd thought as he said, "Yeah I guess so."

"So where are your friends?"

"Well they are...they are...they are on stage now." and with that Todd pointed to the spot where his friends had gathered.

With a smirk Eddy picked up his mike and spoke into it, "We would like to sing a song now but we need a little help. Our friend Todd is afraid to come up onstage. He is the guy sitting right over there with that smokin hot chick that I have no idea how he got."

Todd was annoyed that Eddy had just said that in front of a whole bar but before he could do anything the whole Karaoke bar exploded in applause and encouragement. He looked at Gina looking for support. He was flabbergasted about what to do but as soon as he turned to the woman in front of him he saw that she was clapping and urging him to go up and sing. Todd shook his head as he made his way onto the stage.

"I want you to know that I hat all of you guys."

Eddy just laughed, "Sure whatever you say Todd. Just try to keep up."

With that a tone began playing as the whole bar started to clap. Todd felt stupid just standing there with the guys about to sing. He was swaying. Although when he thought about it he couldn't tell if it were from nerves or from drunkenness. Todd was a bit surprised that Ed started the song with everyone following suit except him.

_Give me a second_

_I need to get my story straight_

And with that the group began full on singing We Are Young from Fun. Todd couldn't help but smile standing there. He looked out at the crowd and say the amused looks on the faces of the people gathered there. He opened his mouth to sing but nothing came out. He focused in on Gina and was somehow able to finally bring himself to make sound come out on the chorus.

_ WE ARE YOUNG_

_So I set the World on Fire_

As he realized what he was doing Todd had a sudden calm while singing and any nerves he had went away. He was singing with some the most insane people he just met, and had basically been hit on by a hot chick. He was doing things he never thought he would because of his new friends. This song, if any adequately described the air of the Institute. Todd knew one thing. No matter what happened he would be okay. Standing with his friends and singing a hit single he had no fears of the future for the first time. Whatever happens will happen. One thing was for certain, they would be setting the world on fire.


	4. Chapter 4 Aftermath

_Well here it is. The last chapter of the Introduction arc. The next few chapters is when the story really starts getting exciting. Sorry that this chapter is a bit shorter than usual. _

Training storyline: Introduction arc

Just Another Day chapter 4: Aftermath

_**Eddward Devlin's house: 10:34 AM**_

Todd woke up with his head feeling like it was crushed by a trash compactor. He opened his eyes and was greeted by blackness. Was it night? No he felt the sun shining on him. Yet his eyes were open. No! He had gone blind! Todd panicked at his newfound blindness and groped his face to...oh wait he had his jacket on his forehead covering his eyes. He moved it off of him and squinted in the bright light that shown from the sun. All around him was carnage from the night before.

He was currently floating in Edd's pool. He was on a raft constructed from two beer kegs, duct tape, and a lawn chair. Scattered in the pool was numerous beer cans and clothes. Around the pool were other passed out partiers. The guys night turned into an all out house party. From what Todd heard this was the norm for an average guys night. There was still music lightly playing from the stereos scattered throughout the house.

Todd's 'Raft' was in the middle of the large pool in Edd's back yard. Edd's house was the most unique he had ever seen. The house was three stories, but only one of those was above ground. The other two were below ground but the west side was set into the cliff face that overlooked the ocean. The side that was in the cliff had the wall made of glass creating two very long windows that ran along the entire side of the house. Along with that there were two balconies over the ocean on each floor. The inside was best described as a bachelor pad.

Knowing he had no other choice Todd flipped over into the water to begin to swim out of the pool. Momentarily disoriented while underwater he caught sight of the trunk full of people's car keys at the bottom of the pool. Also there was a submerged and crashed golf cart with a pole taped to the side. Surfacing he made his way over to the pool steps and got out of the pool. Now soaked he made his way over the past out partiers and into the house entering through the sliding glass door. He found more victims of last night's event inside the house.

The first thing he saw was the grand entrance with two staircases leading down on each side of an elevator. Not feeling like walking down two flights of stairs to get to the living room he headed straight to the elevator passing numerous coworkers who had come last night. He could not remember any of their names on account of his pounding head and intoxication. He pressed the down arrow and waited several moments for the elevator to come up as Carry On by Fun played in the background.

The silver doors opened and he got in. He pressed the 1 and faced forward. Slumped on the floor next to him was Bill Murray dressed in an Iron Man suit with a sombrero. Todd still wasn't sure when exactly they had picked up Mr. Murray or how he knew about the Institute. Todd thought that he was a clone but the guys promised that he was the actual Bill Murray. As he was pondering that though he was hit with a wave of nausea. Just as he was about to tip over he attempted to steady himself by leaning on the elevator doors. Unfortunately for him that is the exact moment they decided to open.

He ended up tumbling out the elevator and fell on one of his fallen comrades. When he stumbled to his feet he saw that it was, in fact, the Saurian hitchhiker they picked up last night. FYI Saurians are from the planet Sauria which is about 78 light years from Earth. It had a smooth face with no nose but slits instead. The head is in the traditional grey alien shape but was a vibrant red. Unlike the traditional grey alien though he was the same height and build as an average human male. He wore a black one piece space suit with a Silver, trench coat like, garment over it. The space suit was skintight and made of some Rubber or latex like material.

Todd stumbled onto his feet. He found himself in the large living room that belonged to his new mentor. There was the large full length window directly across from the elevator. Before that were several curved red couches in a horseshoe shape that faced the elevator. They faced a 200 inch plasma screen television that could be retracted into the floor. Along each side wall were very large aquarium like fish tanks with various fish, some terrestrial others alien. On each side of the elevator was the two staircases leading up. On the left and right corners of the room were doors leading to other rooms on the story. The bar was on the left side of the back wall.

He shakily swayed over to the bar located to the left of the elevator. Seated there was Edd who looked like he partied hard. He had no shirt on and was wearing the bottoms of a scuba suit flippers included. He was drinking an orange liquid out of a glass and eating some toast with scrambled eggs. Todd sat down and looked ahead at the bartender. He was a robot of course. Jeffery was his name and he was one of two robots that Edd had. Jeffery was the cook/ bartender. Wadsworth was the butler/ security guard.

The robotic voice asked Todd, "What will it be sonny?"

Groggily Todd answered, "I would like a glass of Sunny D, toast, a sliced orange, a waffle and some sausage." The robot quickly poured the glass and set it in front of Todd. As Jeffery was turning to cook Todd added, "And some Tylenol."

Edd chuckled and turned to Todd, "I'm guessing your head hurts as much as mine does. Tylenol won't help much."

With that he reached on the side of his glass and picked up a silver metal case. It looked like an was the size and shape of and altoid tin. It was a smooth metal with several lights that blinked along the side. There was HET-P13 stamped on the top of the case in green lettering. Edd pressed a button on the side and the top opened with a mechanical hiss. There was a thick mist on the inside like that produced by dry ice. Edd reached inside and pulled out a glowing green gel capsule.

"Here Todd try this. A couple of the pharmacy guys cooked this up recently."

"Um...What does it do?" Todd asked nervously.

Smiling Edd simply said, "Don't worry, it is a hangover cure. It is supposed to get rid of the headache and nausea."

"Does it work?"

"Not sure yet. This is the first batch they made and is untested on humans. I took three so far. Although my right leg just went numb so I would start with just one."

Signing Todd took the pill and swallowed it thinking of last night's events.

_**Edd's car: 1:22 AM**_

The group had just left Metropolis Live Karaoke bar and was heading down a dark highway. From what Todd could tell there was only fields in every direction. Edd had told him that they were going to his house where he was having a party. Todd wasn't quite sure if his boss had programmed the autopilot of his car quite right in his drunken stupor but trusted him. At the moment Eddy was taking the time to describe to Todd his personal sidearm.

Holding it in his hands and showing Todd each part he spoke, "This is a 9mm SIG Sauer P226. It is chrome plated with custom wooden grips. It has an extended beavertail grip to prevent hammer bite. It also has a threaded barrel to attach a silencer."

Todd waited for a moment as Eddy looked at him expectantly before he said, "So what do you say, impressive?"

"Um sure it's pretty cool." Todd said not sure how much he was supposed to care.

"Cool is an understatement, especially since I have two of them, " Eddy told Todd as he pulled a twin handgun from god knows where.

In the front seat next to Eddy Mr. Devlin replied, "Eddy I thought we agreed that you wouldn't bring guns on guys nights since the Bangkok incident."

Sighing Eddy relayed, "Look Doctor D it is okay. It isn't even loaded. Look there are no..." Eddy was saying as he popped out a magazine before seeing that it was, in fact, loaded, "...never mind."

Quietly Eddy put the gun into Edd's glove compartment for safekeeping. 'Wow' Todd though. This guy was the weapons expert at the Institute. He hoped that it was just his inebriation. As he thought this Ed spoke up from the seat next to him.

"Hey Eddward there is a hitchhiker on the left of the road. I think his ride broke down, we better stop and help them." Ed told Edd.

"I think you are right. Charles pull over to that guy on the side of the road."

"Are you sure Doctor D?"

"Don't worry Todd this guy looks trustworthy."

Confounded by how ridiculous it sounded and not believing his ears Todd looked out of the window to see this so called trustworthy hitchhiker. He was expecting to see a hockey mask wearing psychopath with a chainsaw but was even more surprised. He saw a green spaceship that was very hard to describe that appeared to had made a slight crash landing. It looked like a stealth plane combined with a rocket. Standing in front of it was an alien which turned out to be a Saurian trader.

All four of the men stepped out of the car and walked over to the alien. He waved to them as they approached.

"What seems to be the problem buddy?" Edd asked the alien.

'Wow' Todd thought as Mr. Devlin spoke. He is really trying to speak English to someone who probably never even been to Earth befo... and the alien speaks fluent English with no accent.

"Thanks for stopping. I am from Sauria which is 78 light years away and I ran out of fuel. I knew I should have put more than 18 Earth dollars worth of dilithium in the tank but I was in a hurry."

Ed stepped in with the next question, "Well what is your name alien traveler from the outer realms?"

The alien looked at Ed confused by his odd description of there the alien hailed from but answered, "Zardar."

"Well what do you do Zardar, the incredible?" Ed asked.

"I would prefer to just be called Zardar. To answer your question I am a space trader. I move commodities and was supposed to bring a shipment of Saurian brandy to a space outpost. If you guys could help me I am a bit lost. The outpost was a manmade base called Lunar 1."

Eddy replied this time, "You just missed it. Lunar 1 is a base on the moon right up there, "he said pointing up at the moon.

Zardar hit himself in the head as he said, "Oh man, I thought that it was on this planet's other moon. I mean I passed right by that thing."

Todd felt he should mentions something to the alien, "Um Zardar... This planet has only one moon."

"You are kidding right?"

"I am sorry but no."

Sighing the alien sat on the ground and asked the group, "Can you guys help me out. Do you have any fuel for my ship or one I can borrow to send up my shipment of alcohol."

Edd answered Zardar obviously knowledgeable, "Humans don't have access to dilithium crystals to refine into dilithium fuel. Fortunately we do have a substitute that we can synthesize. Unfortunately it will take about eighteen hours to created enough for you trip back to your planet. "

"I can't thank you guys enough, " Zardar said after he got up and began shaking everyone's hand.

"Tell you what Zardar, how about we call in a crew to tow your ship to our facility while we make your fuel. While that happens you are welcome to join us at a party."

_**Edd's house: 1:53 AM**_

Todd was now at Edd's cliff side house which was much larger than he had ever imagined. He was in the living room of the mansion sitting at the horseshoe. On the TV they had Raiders of the Lost Ark playing. The music was a blaring techno beat in the background. In front of Todd was a coffee table full of various liquors. One particular alcohol was the bottles of Saurian brandy that was brought by the alien trader Zardar.

Todd was in a drinking contest with Ed, Rolf, Zardar, and Bill Murray who was somehow not freaking out over the whole alien thing. They were alternating shots of alcohol. They had just taken a shot of Vodka and were moving onto Saurian brandy.

"So Teddy, you now work at the Asylum right?" a very drunk Bill Murray asked.

"Once again it is Todd and yes I am working at the Institute."

"Good, good. And you Zoidberg you are a space gardener?"

Zardar paused from pouring the curved bottle of alien brandy into shot glasses to comment and answer Bill, "Its Zardar and no. I am a space faring merchant and trader who also dabbles in bounty hunting."

"Really!" Ed asked.

Chuckling Zardar answered, "No just kidding...or am I. The shots are ready," the alien oddly replied.

With that Todd took his shot and gulped it down.

_**Edd's back yard: 2:44 AM**_

Well Todd dropped out of the drinking contest before he could see the winner. In fact it was still going on. At some point Bill Murray had dressed up in and Iron Man Costume and found a sombrero. Todd still wasn't sure how or why he did that at a house party but he had learned not to question these things. Speaking of Bill he was the only one left to drink against Zardar, or Zoidberg as he had been calling him all night. They were the last two left.

At the moment Edd was having the key dunking ceremony. Since the last guest had arrived and given up their keys Edd was about to start. He placed all of the keys in a weighted trunk and threw them into the pool watching it sink to the bottom.

Looking around he saw that they had a pair of supped up golf carts. He walked over to them and recognized Nicolai. He saw they had several very long wooden poles on the ground. Nicolai was duct taping one of the aforementioned poles onto the left side of the Golf cart with a alien spray painted onto the hood. Todd walked up intrigued.

"Nicolai what's happening?"

"Oh Todd good you are here. I was just about to go looking for someone to come golf cart jousting. You can take that one over there with the flaming bunny."

_**Five minutes later**_

Nicolai was racing towards Todd at the highest speed that the golf cart would allow trying to align his pole to hit Todd while not getting hit. Fifty feet in front of him Todd was doing the exact same thing. They raced closer and closer until...BLAM! Both Todd and Nicolai were hit and went careening out of control.

Todd spun around and around until the crushed hood of his cart went over the edge of the pool and the whole thing fell in. He was surprised by the rush of water and sudden disorientation of the cart flipping onto its roof on the way down. Todd got out from his seat and swam to the top of the pool. Breaking the surface he saw that Nicolai had also had a crash of his own. His golf cart was flipped on its side and was on fire. Nicolai was making his way over to Todd with a smile on his face.

"Hey Nicolai. What does this mean, who won?" Todd asked confused.

"Well...we both win. I think this calls for shots." Isaacs told him making his way over to the house.

_**Edd's Living room: 4:16 AM**_

Bill and Zardar were beginning to run out of steam. They had slowed down and were both having trouble taking any more shots. Bill tried to swallow the bourbon but ended up holding the glass at his lips unable to drink it. He looked forward and saw that his alien opponent was in the same boat.

Putting down the glass on the table he said through a thick tongue, "Zoidberg, both You and I are at our limitators. We can't shot any more drinks. I think to pass out we about are. How about we have a race to the elevator. Tom you go and press the button and the first one inside wins, "He said motioning to Todd.

Todd complied and went over to the elevator. He pressed the button and the race began. Zardar had an early lead because Bill Murray had tripped getting off of the couch. When he did get up he walked in an extremely zigzagging serpentine pattern. He was lucky though because Zardar was on the same playing field. When the race was neck and neck and both were side by side Zardar fell only feet from the elevator and passed out. At that moment the elevator door began to close and Bill used the last of his strength to jump over the Saurian and land in the elevator.

Before Todd could say anything Bill announced drunkenly, "Still number one!" and fell asleep.

The rest of the ride up was in silence as Bill snored. The doors opened and Todd saw that Kevin and Rolf were making something with two beer kegs and a lawn chair. He went over to see what it was and maybe test it out.

"What do you have there?" Todd asked the two men.

"Me and Rolfy boy here are making a raft." Kevin said as he was taping the keg to the metal leg of the lawn chair.

"Cool can I try it out?"

_**Edd's living room: 11:09 AM**_

Todd was eating his breakfast and starting to feel better. He and Doctor D had been joined by Eddy, Nicolai, and Ed.

"Really guys. You destroyed my Golf carts?" Edd said as he finished his food.

"Yes my friend. I am sorry about that but it was not total loss. I have cell phone videotape of whole jousting contest." Nicolai relayed to Edd.

"Oh well then I guess it is Okay."

"Man I wish I could have seen..." Eddy began but was cut off by his phone buzzing. He looked at it and sighed, "I wish I could just sleep but duty calls."

Slightly intrigued Nicolai asked "What is it this time?"

"Looks like I have to take out a group of terrorists in Central America. I will be gone for the next day or so." Getting up he began to walk off but turned back to ask, "Buy the way Eddward can you open your car so I can get my 9mm's."

"Sorry but my keys are at the bottom of the pool."

Thinking for a moment Eddy asked, "Is Bill still passed out in the elevator?"

"Yes why?"

"Is his Iron Man suit made out of real metal?"

"Yes..."

"I am going to steal one of his metal gloves to break your car window to get my guns."

"Okay sounds good." Edd replied too hung over to care.

_**Todd's apartment: Saturday 5:00pm**_

Todd was currently in bed with a pounding headache. The glowing pill he took helped some but the migraine had come back in full force. Once again his phone buzzed on the night stand next to him. He looked over and saw that it was Gina from the night before. He had forgotten about her. For a second he had thought that he only imagined her in his drunkenness.

They had exchanged information at the Karaoke place and then parted ways when Todd left for the party. He really didn't feel like talking but he knew that it was the right thing to do. Throwing the covers off of him Todd got out of his bed and sat up.

Todd pressed answer and put his phone up to his ear, "Hello?"

"Oh good you are safe. I was worried when you and your friends said that you were driving to a party last night with how drunk you guys were."

"Don't worry we had a designated driver."

"Good well I guess goodbye then. Just wanted to check on you." she said hanging up.

Todd put the phone back and stood up off the bed. He walked over to the couch and sat down turning on the TV. The screen lit up and he was greeted by The Looney Toons Show. As Bugs and Daffy discussed Daffy's online shopping addiction Todd thought about the events that conspired in the past 24 hours. He had the time of his life and even met a girl for good measure. He just hoped that he was as smooth sober as he was drunk.

"The future looks bright, "Todd muttered to himself. "If I can ever get rid of this mind splitting headache.


	5. Chapter 5 The Hunt

_Sorry for the long time in between updates. I have been really busy with other things. Another thing was that with the uniqueness of this type of story you really have to be in the right mood to write it. Hopefully I can put out the next chapter sooner. The belly of the beast arc shows the innermost workings of the institute._

**Training storyline: Belly of the Beast arc**

**Just Another Day chapter 5: The Hunt**

_**Central America: Saturday 11:29 PM **_

Eddy McGee worked for a billion dollar company full of super scientists yet he was booked into one of the most disgusting hotels in Honduras. The bed smelled horrible and the sheets were stained. Half of the lights in the ceiling fan were burnt out. Even worse, there was no air conditioning. This rat hole was room 2C at the Chakra Inn located in a middle of nowhere town called Katete.

Eddy was not looking forward to the next day of Intel. He would have to get up at the crack of dawn and sneak through the heat of the jungle in order to locate the terrorists. Worst than that, he would still be slightly hung over from the party. He really wished that the company could have chosen another employee to take this mission. Unfortunately they had requested a veteran agent with extensive espionage and weapons training with jungle experience. Eddy was one of the few who fit those requirements. Every other agent who could replace him was on assignment already or at the party in the case of Ed, Rolf, and the other guys.

His trip to Honduras was horrible. He had flown in on a small rickety airplane with a cracked windshield. Genosan Industries had booked that flight because it was a low key ride. They didn't want to bring in extra attention by having him flown there in a private jet. He was supposed to lay low for a day or two to get some Intel before going in to take down the terrorists.

From the research that had been done they were a standalone group called the Millennium Legion. They were a group of bio-terrorists that had been threatening the area in the past. They had not been considered a threat until they raided an ancient temple and stole a valuable artifact. It was an ancient stone that supposedly had the power to change living creatures into horrible amalgamations.

Genosan would have confiscated the artifact years ago had it been known. The stone's existence had not been revealed until the village where the temple was located reported its theft. Based on the legends the Dakar stone had fallen from the heavens twelve hundred years ago. It changed the form of every creature that came into contact with it. The Tribe had believed it to be a messenger of the gods and placed it in the center of their sacred temple. It showed that those foolish enough to tempt the gods would be punished.

"Stupid natives," Eddy muttered to himself as he was reading the file further. From experience it was painfully obvious to him the true nature of the stone. It was a meteorite that descended from space. Often they get caught in storms of cosmic radiation or they are a piece of a planet that got altered when its star goes super nova. Whatever force created the meteorite heavily irradiated it. That radiation has mutagenic qualities in it that alters any and all forms of life. The primitive people that found it didn't understand it so they immediately assumed that the Gods sent it. Typical.

He had dealt with this type of confusion dozens of time. Although this was the first time that a terrorist group had stolen the artifact in order to weaponize it. The file stated that the Millennium Legion had made treats demanding ludicrous amounts of money or else they would release a never before seen strain of superbug onto the Honduran people. They had given a deadline of five days for the money to be delivered. That was two days ago and Eddy now had less than three to find these people, figure out their plan, and reduce their operation to ash. That last part he was especially looking forward to.

Eddy threw his two suitcases onto the bed sending up puffs of dust all over the room. He flicked on the lamp that rested on the table next to the bed. He unzipped the first suitcase and revealed clothes. Good they had not given him the wrong bag. He rezipped that bad and pushed it to the side. Eddy then unzipped the second bag and was delighted at what he saw. Each and every item was neatly packaged in foam to keep everything in place.

"Just like I left it," Eddy said with a smile as he checked over the contents of the suitcase. First off there was his two chrome SIG's with their silencers attached, along with two spare mags for each. An MP5K with folding stock, silencer and spare magazines. A compact .380 ACP caliber pistol. Eight bricks of C4 plastic explosive. A half dozen grenades. Several knives. And, of course, a case of glowing green hangover pills.

* * *

_**The Institute Monday 8:56 AM**_

It had been two days since Todd experienced his first Guys Night. It felt like it was only yesterday though. Especially since he had slept through the entirety of Saturday and most of the day Sunday. For the most part Todd was okay. He still had a slight headache but that was probably because he had hit his head falling out of bed this morning. His new office was completely unpacked though, so that was done.

It was bare for the most part. There was a desk, some chairs, a mini-fridge, and a filing cabinet. On the walls he had a few posters he bought yesterday. There was one for Godzilla King of the monsters. Another one showed Boris Karloff as Frankenstein. He even had one of Ghostbusters with Bill Murray's signature.

At the moment he was scrolling through his laptop. He had just been given a comprehensive list of the experiments that took place in the lab. Looking forward on the list he saw the experiments that were sanctioned to take place today. They were mostly monitoring the progress of previous experiments but there was one that caught his eye. It was an experiment to combine the genetic makeup of a chupacabra with that of a werewolf. He strolled over to the lab where Eddward Devlin was located.

"Hey what's up doc?"

"Oh nothing, just milking the venomous sap of this here tree spider, " he replied back nonchalantly as he held the animal that looked like a wooden toy buy was in fact very alive.

"Well when you are done with that I would like to talk to you about one of the new experiments."

"Just a moment then, " he said as he finished up with the spider and put it in its cage. "Now what did you want to talk about?"

"I was reading through some of the files you gave me and I saw that there was an experiment slated to take place today. You were going to combine the DNA of two mythical beasts."

"I am sorry bust which experiment is that? You would be surprised by how many mythical beasts we have here." Edd explained honestly.

"The genetic combination of a chupacabra and a werewolf."

"Ah yes, those mythical beasts. You are correct that is on today's agenda."

"Well what does that entail. I mean, how are you going to go about performing this experiment?"

"Well we have a large sample of werewolf DNA from a recent trip to Scotland but we will need to go round up some chupacabras."

"Well where do we find those?" Todd asked afraid of what that meant but still excited.

"Normally we would have to take a trip to Central America, those little buggers are everywhere in Mexico. But recently we had a few in containment. They escaped not too long ago and I have really been meaning to go and recapture them."

Nervously Todd asked, "So by few you mean we have to go get three or four of them?"

Mr. Devlin chuckled and said, "No, you see those things breed like rabbits and by current estimates there should be about twenty or thirty of them."

Dumbfounded Todd asked, "So we have to capture thirty of them!"

"No we only have to bag six of them. Two for us and four for the zoo. The rest we can just kill. Or if you are in a really humorous mood we can have them airdropped over North Korea."

"No thanks I think it would be best just to kill them."

After some thought Edd said, "I think you are right. Come with me it is time to gear up."

* * *

_**The Institute: 1:34pm**_

Both Edd and Todd were ready to capture some Chupacabras. They each had a bolt action tranquilizer pistol with a dozen or so darts on their belt. Along with that they had some compact assault rifles on their backs along with their personal side arms. Todd had his Jericho and 1911 and Edd had a Glock 45. They were wearing bullet proof vests and limb protection.

They had learned from asking around that the chupacabras had been spotted the ventilation system on floor 55. That of course meant that the two grown men were crawling through the air vents themselves. They had separated and were each searching a side of the floor. It was at this moment that Todd decided to ask a question.

He pressed the button on the side of his communicator watch and spoke into it, "Hey Doctor D, these air vents are like a maze. Why is it that you decided that each floor should get three different crisscrossing layers of air vents? "

His watch crackled an a voice came back, "It certainly wasn't my idea but if I had to take a guess I would say whimsy."

"Have you seen any signs of the targets?" Todd asked into his watch.

"No not yet." reported the watch.

"Wait a second," Edd spoke into his communicator.

He had just seen a shadow move on the metal wall. It was at an intersection of three corridors about twenty feet ahead of him. He crept closer to where he saw the shadow.

He relayed to Todd, "I have a possible bogey. I am moving in, maintain radio silence until instructed otherwise."

With that he pulled the tranquilizer gun from its holster. He pulled open the bolt and checked making sure that there was in fact a dart loaded into the gun. He then crept closer to the intersection. He could hear a slight rustling in the right passageway, which was also where the shadow had appeared from. He was only feet from the corner now and prepared himself. He then pushed himself forward and slid to the middle of the intersection.

Mere inches from his face was one of the animals he was looking for. It was green skinned and alien-like in nature. Its body looked much like a very muscular bald chimpanzee with two inch long claws on each finger. The head was also very similar to a chimpanzee but without the lips and many sharp fangs and glaring red eyes. It had a row of small spikes trailing along its entire back.

The fierce creature bared its teeth and hunched down to pounce when Edd quickly shot it in the chest with a dart. The creature was quickly hit with the drug and had barely moved at all before it collapsed into the floor of the shaft. That bogey would be out cold for at least five hours. Unfortunately for Edd there were two more of this monstrosities kin right behind it! Both of them looked very upset that Edd had harmed their own kind. Even more unfortunate for Edd was that his dart gun was a single shot weapon.

The other two chupacabras quickly rushed at him running over the body of their fallen comrade. He thought of going for his assault rifle but it would take too long to draw from his back. The doctor quickly dropped the dart gun and reached for his Glock strapped to his thigh. He pulled it out and fired three rounds into the first beast. Two in the heart and one in the head. This technique was known as the Mozambique tap. He had learned this method from Eddy and it certainly helped now.

As he moved his hand to aim at the other chupacabra it was already on him! The creature pounced onto his chest and knocked his gun away from him. Edd was barely able to hold onto the shoulders of the creature to stop it from clawing him. Thinking quickly he got his foot underneath the stomach of the beast and pushed it off of him as he rolled over to his left where his gun had landed. He quickly picked it up and turned to the monster. It had once again leapt but this time he was ready.

It landed on his chest with a heavy thud. As the monster clawed at his body armored torso he pulled the trigger on his pistol. The powerful .45 round ripped through its chest once, twice, three times. But even that powerful barrage did little to quell the beast. The chupacabra was filled with rage over the loss of its pack members and was able to shrug off those three hits. Edd fired again sending two more bullets rocketing through the monsters spine. Its legs went limp and Edd was able to push the thrashing thing away where it writhed on the floor of the air vent. With sweat sticking to his forehead the man put the monster out of its misery with a well placed bullet to the skull, causing a thunderous boom to echo throughout the ventilation system.

As soon as he finished off the monster he heard his communicator which had probably been going off the entire fight, "Edd! Mr. Devlin! Are you Okay? Are you safe? What is the situation?"

Edd quickly spoke to reassure his trainee, "I had bagged one of the Targets and eliminated two others. I am unharmed. I would however make a note that these things can take a lot of damage before they die. I suggest you try for headshots if possible. "

Todd replied back, "Noted. What is the plan for the removal of the target?"

Edd thought for a moment before relaying, "Once we finish our hunt we will haul them to one of the vents that leads to the lab above us and put it inside of one of the rooms. The scientist that runs that lab is currently on a long term espionage mission so he will not be disrupted. "

"Understood over." Todd answered before going back to the hunt.

With his ears still ringing slightly from all of the gunshots Edd continued on over the bodies of the dead and unconscious chupacabras. He noted their horrendous smell as he climbed over them. He continued to crawl down the cramped silver corridors looking for more of the Mexican beasts. He turned at every intersection but saw no more signs of chupacabras. Just as he was beginning to doubt whether there were any more in the air vents he heard a scuffling in a corridor to his right.

Edd pulled out his dart pistol and aimed it at the vent opening slowly crawling towards it. He once again braced his feet against the ground. He touched the surface of the vent making sure it was smooth enough and then pushed off sliding on the shiny metal into the opening of the right offshoot and saw...nothing. It was an empty corridor. Just like all of the rest he had checked all day since the his first encounter. He crawled into it some more and checked the intersections along the way finding nothing.

Disappointed he turned back around and made his way over to the entrance he had just slid in front of. Then a scrape of something sharp on metal behind him. He practically flipped over himself turning back towards the sound but once again nothing. "This isn't right," Edd whispered to himself. He once again moved to the source of the sound. He checked the entirety of the corridor and found nothing.

He came to the end of the corridor and saw that the vent ended to the left. He reached that point and saw that the vent curved upward at an angle and lead to the next story of air vents. Obviously. The noise wasn't coming from behind him. It was coming from behind and above him. Edd crawled up the incline plane of the vent and emerged in another identical ventilation system. Now he was beginning to see the signs of the animal inhabitants. There were scratches along the walls and scattered broken chips of bones and other animal parts that had been stripped clean of the flesh. The smell of rot was palpable. Edd wasn't sure what types of animals the chupacabras had eaten but hoped that they weren't human.

Now that he was on the same level as the creatures he could hear them more clearly. They were everywhere around him. In fact he saw that there was one of his quarry about fifteen feet in front of him. It appeared to be sleeping with a slow rise and fall of its chest. Edd pointed his pistol and a small hiss emitted as the gas powered gun fired a dart right into the neck of the beast ensuring that it would stay sleeping for a long time. He pulled back the bolt and inserted another silver dart into the chamber of the gun and readied himself for anything that might come.

Listening he noticed that there were subtle sounds of the animals moving everywhere around him. He knew that he wasn't prepared to take on this many animals alone. Edd pressed the button on his watch and heard a crackle on the end before he began to speak, "Todd come in. Possible target HQ detected."

"This is Todd. Where is your location? "

"The east end of the vents on ventilation level 1. What is your location?"

His watch once again emitted a slight static buzz as Todd relayed, "Two levels below you on ventilation level 3. I am making my way to level 2 right now...Do you wish me to meet up with you? "

Thinking for a moment Edd spoke once he decided on a plan of action, "Negative Todd. You go to the west entrance of level 1 and seek out the Chupacabras there. That will help box them in and prevent them from escaping."

"Understood, in route, " Edd heard his watch relay as he slowly moved down the corridor towards the unconscious beast.

It was completely still as Edd checked to see what he had caught. The monsters chest still held the rhythmic up and down. The hairless, apelike, monster was knocked out cold. Its leathery skin was prickled with beads of sweat. The creature was about the size of a Labrador retriever. As he was inspecting his catch he was alerted by one sound, a very light click click on the floor. From experience Edd knew that there was a monster about ten to twelve feet behind him advancing slowly. Devlin gripped the handle of the dart gun and prepared his body to roll and shoot.

Click click, only six feet now. He tensed his muscles and with all the force he could muster bounded over the body of the beast while flipping upside down in midair. As he was inches from impacting the vent floor he could see the monster he decided to leap itself. He extended his arm and fired a shot at the monster. Unfortunately as he squeezed off his one shot his right shoulder hit the floor and caused the dart to skim off to the side of the monster and hit the wall instead.

Edd saw teeth coming for his face and did the only thing he could. He took his dart gun and jammed it into the jaws of the chupacabra as he was just feeling the scrape of teeth on his face. Edd owed his life to the gas pistol that he had just used. Just because his jaw was stuck open didn't mean that the monster was finished. No that only enraged the beast more. It shook its head violently trying to unlodge the obstruction from its mouth, spittle flying everywhere.

Taking this moment Edd rolled over onto his stomach and drew his Glock. Just as he was about to aim the chupacabra gave one more violent push and was able to bite down hard enough to snap the dart gun in half. Opening its mouth to roar triumphantly it was cut short by two bullets ripping through its heart. It squealed in pain and collapsed onto the floor of the air vent. It was not, however, dead yet. The monster pushed itself up with its arms and raised one clawed hand to strike when Edd fired two more large rounds into the neck of the monster. The chupacabra gripped its neck as blood poured out trying to scream but only letting out a gurgling sound.

Edd lay there with blood streaming down the side of his face where he almost died by getting his head bitten off. In his hands he held his .45 pistol, the slide locked back empty. His tranquilizer pistol lay in busted pieces to his right. Directly in front of him was the air vent shaft he had just come from where a chupacabra had somehow snuck up on him. He knew that something was off. He couldn't put his finger on it. Yet all around him was quiet. That was it. quiet.

Earlier he had heard noise from chupacabras all around him, now nothing. And Todd, he should have checked in when he heard the shots ring out. Edd looked to his watch and saw why. The screen was cracked, a button had popped off, and several wires were protruding from under the case. He must have broken it when he fell on his back. Looks like they would be having radio silence for the rest of the hunt.

Thinking clearly he realized that he was virtually on his own. He ejected out the magazine from his pistol and placed a fresh one in. Re-holstering it, Eddward drew the compact assault rifle off of his back and readied it. It was a G36c chambered in 5.56 NATO. He extended the stock, chambered the weapon, and flipped off the safety. Edd gripped the tactical fore-grip as he turned the direction he had been in before and slowly advanced in the shaft.

In front of him was a four way intersection that he hadn't seen when he tranquilized the sleeping chupacabra. There were numerous places along the floor where claws had created several gashes in the metal. He moved forward still hearing nothing. It was as if the beasts were toying with him. He got to the intersection with sweat beading his forehead. He looked both right and left but saw that the corridors were empty.

He continued forward but found that he was deafened by a roar from all around him. He heard thumping paws from in front of him and saw that the path in front of him was intersected by another corridor. From both the right and the left a pack of chupacabras came out and were running at Edd. He raised the assault rifle to his shoulder and looked through the scope. Eddward let fourth a burst of full auto fire at the first monstrosity he could see. Its head blew apart in bloody chunks.

Doctor D then sighted in another of the mythical monsters and fired using the fore-grip the help with the recoil in such cramped environments. As it fell down dead with blood pouring fourth from its chest Edd began to move backwards trying to escape the situation he was in. There were still six or more of the chupacabras charging at him from the intersection in front. They were slowed down a bit by the bodies of their fallen kin. Edd was trying to make his way back down the inclined corridor back down to floor 2.

He once again loosed a barrage of lead at the approaching creatures. Knowing he was running out of ammunition Edd sprayed bullets in a line across the middle of the charging monsters just as he reached the first intersection he had come across earlier. He tried to turn around to retreat as his gun ran out of ammo when he saw that the beasts had snuck up behind him were blocking all three shafts leading away from the pack in front of him.

Edd looked at the choices that lay in front of him and had a bad feeling. He noticed that all exits were blocked so he drew his .45. The corridor to his right had the fewest of the beasts so he turned that way. With monsters close to his heels Edd fired two shots into the head of the chupacabra immediately in front of him. There were two more behind it that Edd took out with the Mozambique tap.

It was at this moment of running for his life when Edd heard gunfire from not very far away. Well looks like Todd found his first chupacabra.

* * *

_**23 minutes later**_

Todd and Edd were currently fighting for their lives. They had made it to the floor above them and gotten into the office space of the lab. The two of them were standing behind the desk blasting away at the chupacabras. They had used up all of the ammunition for their G36's several minutes ago and were using the pistols they had brought along. This lab was built much like Doctor Ds and they were in what would be Edd's office.

"Do you ever get tired of constantly shooting things? "Todd asked his boss as he fired two 9mm rounds through the skull of a chupacabra.

Edd fired and took out another chupacabra before answering, "I wouldn't say I have yet," but as he was talking his gun locked back empty, "Todd I am out of bullets, toss me your spare!"

The man standing next to him then took his left hand off of the 9mm Jericho and put it behind his back. He reached the grip of the .45 tucked in the waistband of his pants and pulled it out. He put it on his desk with a couple extra mags he had. Edd quickly picked it up and pointed it at one of the creatures that had just come into the hallway in front of their position. He squeezed the trigger sending a shower of blood from the middle of the chest of the monster. It collapsed with another shot in its center of mass.

"I guess when you are allowed to shoot mythical beasts and creatures that have been extinct for millions of years," Edd was saying then paused to shoot another one of the monsters, "it adds a little spice to the workday."

"I can, "BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, "understand that logic." Todd said firing at the seemingly endless swarm of monsters.

And so the two of them held their positions like that for several more minutes. Obviously the estimates as to the number of chupacabras had been way off. There seemed to be at least a hundred that they had killed so far. It was tiring truth be told. The two men were engulfed in the smell of blood and smoke. The shell casings from their weapons littering the floor. They could see the sheer number of bodies piling up in front of them.

Todd fired another round into the skull of a chupacabra. It blew apart and his gun showed him that he had run out of ammo. He ejected the magazine and reached for his belt. On it were the holster for his 9mm and several pouches where the magazines for his gun were. All of the pouches were empty. He frantically looked down and saw no clips for his gun anywhere. Todd started to panic then. He felt all along his body checking every pocket looking for any ammunition he could. It was to no avail though, he was completely out.

He looked to Edd and was immediately disheartened. His boss was holding Todd's own 1911 which was locked back empty. Todd looked into his mentor's eyes and knew immediately that they were in the same boat. They both knew that they were out of luck.

"Todd if it makes you feel better, we will live on."

Confused Todd quickly asked Doctor Devlin as several beasts in the hallway slowly crept to their position, "No time for cryptic messages doc what are you trying to say?"

"Well remember that blood sample you gave on your first day?"

"I don't remember giving any blood."

"Right, well we found a sample of your blood and we logged it into GGSD."

Seeing that the chupacabras were quickly approaching Todd nervously shouted, "Running out of time, what is GGSD?"

Somehow his boss was able to stay calm as he said, "GGSD stands for the Genosan Genetic Sample Database. When one of our employees dies we have them cloned from our files."

With a edge creeping into his voice Todd defeated said, "that is a bit immoral to have that power but I am not complaining now."

The monsters were only seconds away now taking their time since they knew their pray provided no threat.

"Well Todd we had a good run. It is just too bad you won't remember anything after you are cloned. You memories are only as recent as your last genetic sample."

"That is too bad."Todd said accepting his fate.

The two of them stood there as their death approached. As they entered the office the chupacabras decided to quit playing around. They leapt into the air at the men in front of them. Both let out yelps of fear and jumped into each other's arms hugging each other for comfort. The room was then filled with blood and gore as loud noised and the sound of tearing flesh filled the air.

* * *

Edd felt confused. He had been cloned a few times before but he never felt like this. He was not on a bed like usual. He was not quite sitting but not quite standing. He felt like he was floating. And he was surrounded by pitch black darkness. Why were the lights out. Wait no his eyes were just closed. He opened them and was greeted by a gruesome sight.

He was in the same office and was completely surrounded by the thick red paste of body parts that was once known as chupacabras. He then looked around him and saw why he felt like he was floating. In his fright he must have jumped up into Todd's arms because that was where he was now. As soon as he looked at him Todd opened his eyes and realized what had happened and that he was holding his boss bridal style.

Todd was more confused than ever as he surveyed the damage around him. He set down his boss and asked, "What the hell just happened?!"

For once Edd didn't have the answers for the young man. That lasted for all of about two seconds until he looked into the hallway in front of them and saw their savior. He pointed and drew Todd's attention to the thing that had saved them standing at the end of the long hallway.

There stood Charlie the rat-man king. He was just as Eddward had described to Todd and how Todd pictured him. He was completely black except for the two silver striped down his back. He was wearing a cardboard Burger King crown and was holding the instrument that he used to kill the chupacabras. It was a large hand held minigun that had smoke rising from the still spinning barrels. Seeing that his work was done He saluted the two men then ran off to the right and out of sight.

Todd then asked, "Didn't you say that Charlie was a bad guy or something?"

"Not really. Charlie just kind of does things when he feels like. He attacks Genosan one day then saves the life of the president of the United States the next."

"That doesn't make any sense." Todd said plainly.

"Not many things at the Institute do. You ready to go make a chupawerecabrawolf?"

"Sure."


End file.
